does any body understand what shows docked breeds can enter after 6th april 07 , the kennel club press release makes it very confusing as it states that shows where they have paying public spectators will not have legally docked breeds if anyone understands what defra's doing .
does this mean that legally docked breeds will not be allowed to enter crufts 2008 even if they quaifly.  

wish they get their act togther.

two of mine are docked but that was 5 years ago and 18 months ago.but that cover all shows open to champshow as well not just crufts, agilty and obince where they are held at gamefair and events,

i would thing that they going to have a cut off date.like aboard from a cut off date and approve letter from the vet.for docking.

what happens when some time in some breeds you get a naturel bob tail how are they going to know the different  if it bob or dock a bob can be all thing lengths.to the general public they will not know the diierent between the two type.
again if it a naturel bob you go to have a letter from the vet to say this to.
and what happen like my wispa a fcr damage her tail well she was in whelp and had to wait 10 weeks once the pup had gone to have  3 inch off beacuse it just didnt heal and keep getting infected.after 8 weeks she went on to win at shows.

According to what I've read in the past on the Defra site (can't open the relevant .pdf files now though ) dogs born before the cut-off (no pun intended!) date are exempt from the docking ban as regards showing.

if i had a litter before april i will be able to dock but poss not show later,????

what a but the one that are dock know they willnt be able to show??? it just not gundog breeds there working.the terriers the list gos on.

Quote from Dog World:  "Some of the major Championship and agricultural shows which currently have a paying audience will not have representation of docked breeds from a large number of overseas countries, nor will legally docked UK dogs be allowed to be shown."

So, 'legally docked' to me means dogs that are docked already (like my two are now), or before the cut-off date. 

It will be for dogs docked AFTER the April deadline comes in. Dogs that were born before then will be ok. But any dogs docked after that date will not be able to go to shows if there is a paying gate - and that includes dogs born after that date abroad and docked. I cant see Crufts not charging entrance to the public, so any dogs born after April and docked will not be able to be show there. It is a crazy system - lots of shows dont charge an admission fee, and I would hope that breed clubs for docked breeds would not charge entrance. All very silly, and all down to Defra and politicians making a gesture

From what I remember from previous threads is that there will still be legally docked dogs after the cut-off deadline. These are dogs that are docked to work.  These legally docked dogs will not be able to show where spectators pay.  That's how I remember it but someone might prove me wrong.

I've just been reading the Act (having uninstalled and reinstalled umpteen versions of Adobe, but now it works! Woot! ahem) it seems that dogs docked before the 'commencement day' are unaffected, and can be shown as now.

Dogs may only be docked after the commencement day if they are 'certified working dogs'; certification is obtained from the vet, and the breeder must show evidence that the dog is likely to be used in connection with work for
a) law enforcement
b) activities of Her Majesty's armed forces
c) emergency rescue
d) lawful pest control, or
e) the lawful shooting of animals.

Also, that the dog is 'of a type specified for the purposes of this subsection by regulations made by the appropriate national authority'.

(It's not clear what the 'appropriate national authority' actually is.)

Dogs docked after the commencement day may be shown at shows where there are paying public spectators only if the dog is being shown to demonstrate its working ability.

(I assume that means the gamekeepers' classes, for example.) It seems that dogs docked after the commencement date will not be able to be shown in ordinary breed classes at shows where members of the public have paid an entrance fee.

It's not altogether clear - does anyone interpret it differently?

I agree with JG.

As far as I can work out, for showing the following is an important statement....

''A person commits an offence if -
a) he shows a dog at an event to which members of the public are admitted for a fee,
b) the dogs tail has been wholly or partly removed (in England and Wales or elsewhere), and
c) removal took place on or after the commencement day.''

I read that as one single whole statement because there are commas between the three sections not full stops. So in my opinion, an exhibitor would ONLY be comitting an offence IF all three parts of the statement applied to them. So any puppy docked legally BEFORE the commencement day would be OK to be shown thereafter.

It does look to me as though dogs who's tails are amputated due to injury on or after the date of commencement cannot be shown afterwards though.

Dawn R.

What I understood is that dogs docked before the ban comes into force will still be allowed to be shown. Dogs docked after will not. I may be wrong - it has been known....

You are correct

Dogs who are docked already will be able to go to all shows it is ONLY dogs docked AFTER the 6 April who will not be allowed to shows where there is paying public.