Hi All, this is my first post so I apologise if it's not in the right place.
I will be breeding a litter later this year and the dam had rear dew claws (unsure about the sire) so I am preparing for the possibility that the pups will be born with them. So far I've not managed to find anyone willing to remove them at a few days old, one has said 6 weeks and one has said 12, the other two local vets I don't trust.

Can anyone recommend a vet in or around Wellingborough/Kettering in Northamptonshire who will remove them at a few days old? Thank you

Gosh how awful -what are those vets thinking?! Rear dewclaws can cause major problems and waiting until 6 or 12 weeks would then involve a much bigger procedure. I get them in both my breeds and they tend to be major ones. I used to remove them myself but as I get full toes with bone firmly attached it wasn't nice. My current vet does them for free!! Previous one charged £12 each, the one before that £20 each, so big difference in price but they all did them -no later than 4 days. Unfortunately I don't know anything about your area, let's hope somebody else does.

thanks goldmali, can I ask which vet you use? If we have to travel so be it but I'm really struggling with the idea of leaving them that long, especially as we will be doing Volhard Assessments at 7 weeks old

It is perfectly legal for a lay person to do it, so might be worth asking a knowledgeable breeder in your area if they do them.

I would not be comfortable with travelling far with such young pups -especially as chances are you will have some with rear dewclaws and some without, which then means the easiest option is to leave the bitch at home with the ones not needing anything done, and just bring the ones with rear dewclaws to the vet. Brainless has a good point about finding a local breeder willing to help if all else fails. Check with your breed club? When I did my first it was with the help of a local breeder. She didn't have the same breed as me but I knew her from local training classes and she'd done it before with her own pups. Hopefully you won't get ones as bad as my pups get. In fact, I can tell which of my dogs have had these really giant rear dewclaws (I call them King Kong's dewclaws! Even my vet is surprised at them) as there is always a bit of bone left under the skin where they used to be. I have two Papillons I can clearly feel this on and several Malinois, so have a feel of your bitch. If you can't clearly feel something, chances are hers were small and her pups' will have small ones also -fingers crossed! Rear dewclaws without a lot of bone are really easy to snip off with a sharp pair of sterilised scissors.

Some of these rear dews are just a skin tag with a nail.

There are likely to be many experienced breeders in Boxers, Dobes and several other breeds where they take the front ones off too.

The breed has all of 116 dogs in the uk so while we have a breed club there are only 4 breeders and none of whom have done their own dew claw removals. I do have friends who do breed showing though so will ask them to ask around as someone must know of a breeder or vet with the experience needed. I'll have a feel of her legs later, I'm sure the last litter had some pups who had essentially just skin tags with claws on and others with bone, I think her vet left the ones with bone and just removed the flappy ones but her vet (army vet) has just been posted in Cyprus so won't be around to do ours!
Any other suggestions of ways to reach out to breeders with experience? Apart from Boxers and dobes what other breeds commonly have them removed? Is it worth contacting the Kennel Club to see if they know of vets?

Have you enquired at Swanspool vet in Wellingborough, they are very breeder friendly.

wouldn't touch them with a barge pole!