From the BBC ;

<a class='url' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/6989969.stm'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/6989969.stm</a>

Woman jailed over tail dockings

A woman who used scissors to cut off the tails of eight puppies has been jailed for two months and banned from owning an animal for 10 years. Gillian Breden, of Grove Hill, Brighton, admitted eight counts of removing the tails with no genuine medical reason at an earlier hearing.

So. One woman goes to prison for docking tails, another stays out of prison for allowing a dangerous dog the opportunity to kill her grandchild.I'm not saying this woman did right -but there is something not right about this legal system!

Exactly what I thought Marianne - I do wonder about our legal system sometimes :rolleyes:
Marion

Frankly I think this is really excessive.  Dog fighters and real cruelty cases get off with a slap on the wrist.

It was illegal, but docking is not cruel per se, and a Vet would do them exactly the same ans still will do with some working dogs, sot eh act itself was not cruel. 

Illegal yes.  Would have had some sympathy as the law was changed fairly recently, but then it has been illegal for lay persons to dock for quite some years now.

Oh my goodness!  How ridiculous given how many others stay out of Jail.  Isn't the criminal justice system overcrowded enough?  Perhaps ban her from keeping dogs but jail???  Had I not been a member of this forum it may be that I wouldn't know that tail docking had been banned either.  Infact I would say that I'm still not clear over the law; as a working dog owner I am perhaps a little confused over whether I will ever get another spaniel with a docked tail.  I know where to look for that information should I ever need it; others aren't so capable.

I totally agree, this legal system is crazy. They had an opportunity to make a stand against people illegally owning a banned breed yet that person gets 8 weeks and the mother who was in charge of the girl who was killed gets nothing and was on a cocktail of drugs with a banned dog!!!????

They make it sound really barbaric, cutting of tails with scissors when only a day old.  I have only ever seen the vet do it with scissors. A act of cruelty, yeh right do these people actually know what they are talking about.

I appreciate if there is a law it isnt suppose to be broken however stupid we think it is but this is just taking it to far. And to bann her from keeping dogs for 10 years is outrages. Unless there was more to this story than we are being told!!!

shes obv a scapegoat as an example to others

Arent we forgetting that she cut off the tails with a pair of scissors? Thats just barbaric and she should be in jail to teach her a lesson she wont forget, it was cruel and un needed.

With the grandma and the Pit bull, it wasnt her dog was it? I thought the bloke had been punished who owned it? Was trying to remeber what his punishment was yesterday...

That's how vets often dock the tails, Rachel.

Ellie Lawrenson's grandmother had smoked 10 joints and drunk 2 bottles of wine while responsible for a small child. That's OTT by anyone's standards.

The uncle was jailed for 8 weeks for owning the dog. Hardly a deterrent. :rolleyes:

Yeah but she had no training or anything and all the pups could have dies in worst case.

@ the grandmother

I agree that term isnt long enough for that man, He knew his dog was dangerous and should have taken precautions, but still feel for the poor dog who didnt know any better then what he was taught.

Certianly the woman who docked the pups' tails broke the law, because she isn't a vet and only vets are allowed to dock tails. But the law is certainly an ass when a person gets a harsher sentence for an offence that's down to a technicality (the crime was that she wasn't qualified to do the job, not that it was done in the first place) than one where a child dies.

Was it common practice for breeders to use scissors?(before the law changed).I was under the impression they used banding?

There was another case in Wales back in June,she just got a fine..

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/2000localinfo/merthyrexpress/news/tm_headline=woman-used-scissors-to-cut-tails&method=full&objectid=19366131&siteid=50082-name_page.html

stupid thing is....on radio 4 last night on the news they went over the story and then added that its only legal to do this to approved working dogs.....so....one must assume that they have different nervous systems to other dog then!!!

I have always disagreed with docking unless absolutly needed, it shouldnt just be for show as theres no point to it.

Im glad that they have come down hard on her but wish they would keep things balanced and do the same by others!!

No-one ever forced anyone to dock or buy a docked puppy, there is no cruelty involved, and it is most hypocritical of the law makers and Vet profession.  Lambs tails are docked without anaesthetic as are piglets, both species having fully developed nervous systems at the time.  I won't even go into de-horning, all done without anaesthetic, and by lay persons.

Snipping off a newborn pups tails is nothing by comparison, and if that is how the breeds were evolved and the way they are preferred to look what was the big deal, certainly the pups barely notice, and in the case of banding (ligaturing the tail) they don't notice at all.

I am not at all surprised that the womans puppy buyers wanted docked pups, and a lot of people will be put off by the tailed pups now, and will not want one.  People want their boxers and Rotts etc to look like they always have done.

I know many people have preferred their docked breeds because they do not have tails that wag and knock over things and splatter the wails in mud and blood.

I don't own a docked breed, mine have tidily curled tails, but I still prefer the docked breeds docked.

Suppose the law suddenly said all dogs had to be docked, the ones that prefer the look of their dogs with tails would be most upset to have the whole appearance changed, but the dogs wouldn't' notice one way or another.

Lay persons have docked pups for a hundred years, and in most cases they learnt by watching an experienced breeder show them how, and then continued themselves (it isn't difficult).

As a first attempt to ban docking they decided to change the law allowing only vets to do it as they thought very few would due to the BVA having a negative stance on the issue.  Now we have a full ban.

As the law stands that same person would be allowed to snip off a pups dew claws (thumb) quite legally, which is a far more painful procedure from what I have been told by my dobe breeding friends.