Out of interest, do you have your puppies dew claws removed or not? And why or why not?

I didn't with my last litter but did with my first. Does the show ring have a need for one or the other?

I always have dewclaws removed; as well as my own in the past I've seen so many dogs of different breeds come in to work with ripped dewclaws that they're just not worth it.

do you mean hind ones or front ones too? 

I would never have front ones removed, (though I ahve produced 1 puppy with no front dews) but I have a coated breed where they do not cause issues and they do actively use them.

we don't have hind dewclaws on our breed, but their cousins the buhunds have them sometimes in bunches, and they are removed.

Some breeds (Briards for example) are required to have hind dewclaws as part of their standard, so removing them would be a fault.

No my breed use their front ones.  If they had back ones in both my breeds then I would remove them.  Two of our Pomeranian's have rear ones and they are horrible!

Ditto to Brainless. My Malinois actively use their front dewclaws. Any born with rear ones (quite a few) have them removed as they are in the way. Same with the Papillons -front ones on rear ones off.

Most breed standards were changed not long ago to make dewclaw removal optional. BSD for instance said before that rear ones had to go, not any more.

This is a difficult one, as some dogs use them so well.  However, I wish that the breeder of my yougest Bearded Collie had had them removed.  They have been a total nightmare throughout her entire life.  I'm sure I'm not exagerrating when I say that she has had one or other ripped at least 18 times in her life.  They are large useless flappy things that cause her so much needless pain.

However, my Border Collie uses his so well that I delight in watching him.   I have been known to accidentally mention his "hands" because he uses his thumbs so well!  :-)  They are small, and tight and useful to him. 

I always used to have them removed on the Chi's in the first couple of days after birth, but I've stopped that now. 

I usually prefer to leave the front ones on but I do have one dog who I am seriously thinking about asking the vet about removing them. She does such tight turns after her ball she regularly rips them out. Doesn't seem to bother her though, I only notice when I see the blood running down her leg :(

Ditto this; I didn't remove fronts but did backs. My vet advised me that he owns, works, and breeds working Labs and had never had a tear in 23 years, he doesn't remove them. I love watching my lot use theirs so won't be removing them in our next litter.

> They are large useless flappy things

Now that is how the back ones often are of no practical use.  I fostered and Elkhound cross Husky and homes her with someone I know who has a West Siberian Laika which the cross resembled a little.  she had vestigial rear dewclaws with a nail but no bone in the digit.  Not long after he had her, before she had got round to setting up Insurance she tore one and they were then removed.

The front ones in my experience of my breed are always strong proper digits.

I wouldn't be happy with a breeder in my breed removing dew claws.

In my recent litter, a few of the pups had rear dew claws.  If they are removed before day 5, the pup doesn't feel anything and in fact, I was there when the vet removed them and they didn't bother at all.  Mine were done on day 3.
I wouldn't keep rear dew claws as they are normally deformed slightly so not as strong as an ordinary claw and very easily caught when out walking.  Much better doing it at that age than needing an anesthetic when older.

My current youngster still has all four dew claws. I approached the vet about removing the rear ones but they refused unless they cause him a problem (which they haven't done yet). The front ones I was happy to keep although they are normally removed in my breed. Having watched a DVD which showed just how much a dog uses his front dew claws in every day life, I don't think I would ever want them removed on future puppies.

>I approached the vet about removing the rear ones but they refused

Yup!  My vet absolutely refuses to remove either front or back if a puppy is more than 72 hours old.

Unlike cracar, I am not happy (even if my vet would) to remove them at 5 days.  As the nerve endings have kicked in by then. 

>My vet absolutely refuses to remove either front or back if a puppy is more than 72 hours old.

I read it that the youngster is well-grown (not a baby puppy) and the vet refuses to remove them even under GA.

>the vet refuses to remove them even under GA.

Whoops!  My misunderstanding. 

no later than 3 days for dew claw removal.

Our breed does remove front ones as a general rule.  I suspect it won't be long before the powers that be keep that from happening, but while it's still allowed I have to say that I'll be doing it.

My rescue lurcher had them and used them, but I was so worried about her tearing them that when she had to go under for something else I had them removed.  I wouldn't put a dog under GA JUST for that, but I would have them done at a later date.

But that's just me, and the breeds I'm used to.

I hate the dew claws! My last 2 Giants have them on their front legs and they are forever causing trouble. Only on friday night Erik caught a rope toy on his and pulled the nail off half way so we had to go to the vets on saturday to have it pulled out. He was a very good boy and let them do it without sedation, but if he didn't have them he wouldn't have caught it in a first place. I wish all breeders would have them taken out.
As far as needing them, people say they use them to hold bones etc. Mine are barfed and one of mine doesn't have dew claws and she manages to hold her bones just as well as the others.

> one of mine doesn't have dew claws and she manages to hold her bones just as well as the others.

Same here, our large breed keep their dew claws but only have them at the front. Luckily haven't had any trouble with them. Our Toy breed has back & front dew claws removed by 3 days. Both breeds can hold their bones and toys just fine.