Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Snowy and Blackie were stumped. What was this balding, middle-aged man trying to do with a dirty doctor’s robe? Why had the young Rottweiler’s owner brought them here too?
Zhang Zian had a reasonable guess and lowered his voice to explain to them, “They’re here to do tail docking.”
“Tail docking?”
This was a completely foreign term to them. They had heard of lizards dropping their tails for survival purposes, but even dogs would do it too?
“Have you not noticed? All the corgis, poodles, and schnauzers that you have seen in the market have really short tails. Some of them might even not have one,” Zhang Zian said.
“That…” Snowy gave it a thought. “I thought they were born with short tails or without them. Wasn’t there a saying that ‘a rabbit’s tail would never grow long’?”
“A dog’s not a rabbit. Why would they be born without tails?” Zhang Zian was almost speechless. “They were born with tails, and not as short ones as you had seen. Why they had short tails or even no tails at all, was because they were docked short, or completely removed after birth.”
“Huh? Why?” Snowy asked, slightly surprised.
“That was actually due to history.”
Zhang Zian then explained to them how docking came to be.
“A long time ago, the Europeans raised dogs in order to hunt and catch mice.”
“Pft! Isn’t that just unnecessary?” Blackie couldn’t help himself but blurt out, “Why did they not use cats, but instead dogs?”
“That’s a lot more complicated. It might be because dogs were a lot more obedient and easier to train. It might also be because cats weren’t treated well in Europe previously,” Zhang Zian continued. “Anyways, many breeds, like small-sized terriers, were bred for the sole purpose of catching mice.”
They wanted to wind through the shrubs and fields to catch mice, but their tail had become a burden instead. Their tails were fragile and easily fractured just by hitting the stray crops or getting tangled in a shrub. Therefore, dog owners of those times thought of a simple solution, which was to dock their tails.
Fast forward to modern times. Even though people no longer used dogs to catch mice, the standards of beauty had already set in. For example, schnauzers. They had always had their tails docked, and usually only had one to two inches left. People had only seen schnauzers with that length of tail, and they might have been confused when they saw a schnauzer with a long tail, assuming that they were not “pure breeds” or had a genetic mutation.
Besides, dog kennel organizations from around the world had also set standards for dog beauty competitions, and one of those was the length of its tail. Of course, they never mentioned that they must dock their tail, but what if they were not considered for the prize just because their tail was too long? Then just dock it off.
“But… Isn’t that too cruel to dogs?” Snowy cast a worried look at the few plump Rottweilers in the metal cage. Not too long later, they would have to say goodbye to their own tails.
“That can’t be helped. Both traditional standards of beauty and competitions require short tails or no tails, or clients wouldn’t accept it either… Besides, there is still debate around the subject. Tail docking isn’t entirely detrimental to the dog, but the cons outweigh the pros. Just like these puppies,” Zhang Zian explained, pointing at the young Rottweilers. “Because their nervous system hadn’t fully developed yet, they don’t need to be sedated nor given anesthesia to dock their tails, as they were said to not be able to feel pain.”
“That’s good, if we sedated these young puppies, they wouldn’t wake up from them too…” Snowy lamented, “Actually, I still prefer dogs that can wag their tails.”
“They can. Most of tail docking procedures don’t actually dock off the entire tail. For dogs like Rottweilers, they usually leave a section or two of its entire tailbone.” Zhang Zian measured the length with his fingers before turning to Blackie. “If you plan to bring a guard dog into the wilderness, I would suggest docking their tails too. Tails are very fragile and prone to injury. If they got injured in the wild, it would be difficult to get them to appropriate care, and the wounds might get an infection.”
Blackie gave it a long thought, before raising up his T-shirt without any warning, pointing to his torso, “Look.”
The live stream room instantly exploded!
“Abs! It’s the legendary abs!”
“I want to lick it… That should be alright, right?”
“A huge wave of fangirls incoming!”
“Where are they?”
“Does he want a D-cup, fat, indoorsy woman?”
“…”
Blackie was a lean yet ripped man, and his torso showed clearly his well-defined abs. But this was not the main point. He showed off his torso not for his abs, but for an old scar above his belly button. It was faintly red, and about two to three millimeters long, hard to notice if you weren’t looking for it.
“I had asked for advice from my seniors in wilderness survival, and did a preemptive appendix surgery. Is that similar to docking?” He took a punch at himself for the joke.
This was Zhang Zian’s turn to be shocked. Both he and Snowy had never expected that Blackie would go so far for wilderness survival. He didn’t have appendicitis but had done a surgery pre-emptively. That was a lot of commitment!
People who often worked at sea for a long period of time or worked in the wilderness would often do a pre-emptive appendicitis surgery. Their work schedules were usually a mess, they didn’t get to eat at fixed times, and their nutrition was even worse. This made them a high-risk group for acute appendicitis. The moment they got appendicitis in the middle of the sea or in the wilderness, without prompt treatment, they would get a perforation and end up with diffuse peritonitis, which might cause death.
For a single-person wilderness survivor like Blackie, the moment he got acute appendicitis in the wild, his death would be almost certain. He chose to do the surgery pre-emptively, proving his love for wilderness survival, and life, passionate, but not lacking in logical reasoning.
This was a true survival lover, someone rich and smart who had made proper plans and preparations—much unlike passionate university groups that just dived into the mountains and forests, and ended up costing the country big money and manpower to save them.
Zhang Zian gave him a thumbs-up out of true respect in his heart. “Amazing! You do have a necessity to do such a surgery.”
Blackie smiled as he put down his T-shirt. “So I agree with your advice. We shouldn’t just say all docking is bad, but instead, analyze it based on each case and situation. A dog that’s following me into the wild should have a docked tail.”
With the disappearance of the abs, a wave of upset comments came through the live stream.
Snowy had initially objected against tail docking, but after Blackie’s own example, she grudgingly accepted that docking might not be all bad, at least for working dogs. But for toy breeds, it was just unnecessary.
While they were discussing quietly, the balding middle-aged man in a doctor’s robe prepared to do docking for the few young puppies.
