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First, the Australian Shepherd is identified in history as a
bob-tailed breed. Early mentions of the dogs on ranches in the
western United States in the 1800's refer to bob-tailed dogs. It is
part of his heritage and there have always been natural bob tailed
Aussies. Early Breed Standards written by various entities in the
fifties and sixties always referred to his bob-tail. Our present
Standard written and approved by the ASCA membership in 1977 states
in the General Appearance section, "An identifying characteristic is
his natural or docked bobtail." Identifying characteristics of any
breed are those traits that immediately make one know what breed it
is. The tail is one of the very few traits mentioned in two
sections. In the Neck and Body section it states, "Tail is straight,
not to exceed four (4) inches, natural bobtail or docked."
There are very serious practical reasons for the bobtail in our
breed. America, the breed's actual country of origin, has an
incredible variety of stickers, thorns, burrs, foxtails, mud, ice,
snow that a working dog will be exposed to day after day, often from
daylight until dark. A dog with its tail matted to the skin with
painful stickers ranging from the ones here in Texas to the thorns
of the Southwest and all the nameless stickers we encountered on the
ranch in Colorado, not to mention swamps when we lived in Louisiana,
is not a good situation. Dogs will lie for hours picking these
things out of their coats, but the tail is the most sensitive area
and a ranch dog tends to avoid pulling on it. I have walked out into
fields more than once with shoes instead of boots on and had to
throw away my socks later because it was impossible to ever wear
them again. Most of the other most used stockdog breeds in America
have less coat to begin with than the Aussie (ACD, Kelpie, BC,
Catahoula, Curr Dog) and even some of those are docked for the same
practical reasons. And yes, dogs can have their tails stepped on by
cattle, slammed in a gate, etc. but I doubt that is the most
pressing reason why they were docked in the beginning. Custom and
practicality due to his job and the terrain created this as a
bobtailed
breed.
Bottom line, this is a historical trait of this breed and preserving
the historical traits is honoring where the dogs came from the the
world that developed them.
Terry Martin
Slash V Australian Shepherds
#3 ASCA Hall of Fame Kennel
http://users.htcomp.net/slas
ANOTHER POSTING from
Terry:
I understand they can
tell by x-rays if it is
>natural or docked but whether you could tell for sure otherwise I
really
>don't know. The natural bob tail was there before the Aussie was
actually a
>breed. By being a breed, I mean any records kept and any attempt
made to
>breed within a certain gene pool. Where it came from originally is
anyone's
>guess as there are natural bob tailed breeds in other countries,
but
>Australia is the best guess. The natural bob tail does not breed
true. At
>least one parent must be a natural bob for nbt's to be produced but
they may
>vary from short to 3/4 long or in between. A 1/2 nbt dog can
produce short
>nbt puppies. Two naturally long tailed dogs will not produce nbt's.
>
>The original post I made is below.
>Terry
>
>First, the Australian Shepherd is identified in history as a
bob-tailed
>breed. Early mentions of the dogs on ranches in the western United
States
>in the 1800's refer to bob-tailed dogs. It is part of his heritage
and
>there have always been natural bob tailed Aussies. Early Breed
Standards
>written by various entities in the fifties and sixties always
referred to
>his bob-tail. Our present Standard written and approved by the ASCA
>membership in 1977 states in the General Appearance section, "An
identifying
>characteristic is his natural or docked bobtail." Identifying
>characteristics of any breed are those traits that immediately make
one know
>what breed it is. The tail is one of the very few traits mentioned
in two
>sections. In the Neck and Body section it states, "Tail is
straight, not to
>exceed four (4) inches, natural bobtail or docked."
>
>There are very serious practical reasons for the bobtail in our
breed.
>America, the breed's actual country of origin, has an incredible
variety of
>stickers, thorns, burrs, foxtails, mud, ice, snow that a working
dog will be
>exposed to day after day, often from daylight until dark. A dog
with its
>tail matted to the skin with painful stickers ranging from the ones
here in
>Texas to the thorns of the Southwest and all the nameless stickers
we
>encountered on the ranch in Colorado, not to mention swamps when we
lived in
>Louisiana, is not a good situation. Dogs will lie for hours picking
these
>things out of their coats, but the tail is the most sensitive area
and a
>ranch dog tends to avoid pulling on it. I have walked out into
fields more
>than once with shoes instead of boots on and had to throw away my
socks
>later because it was impossible to ever wear them again. Most of
the other
>most used stockdog breeds in America have less coat to begin with
than the
>Aussie (ACD, Kelpie, BC, Catahoula, Curr Dog) and even some of
those are
>docked for the same practical reasons. And yes, dogs can have their
tails
>stepped on by cattle, slammed in a gate, etc. but I doubt that is
the most
>pressing reason why they were docked in the beginning. Custom and
>practicality due to his job and the terrain created this as a
bobtailed
>breed.
>
>Bottom line, this is a historical trait of this breed and
preserving the
>historical traits is honoring where the dogs came from the the
world that
>developed them.
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