Is it true that sheep and cow herding dogs had their tails clipped to avoid being grabbed by the tail and thrown about? That’s the story I was told by an Australian Shepherd owner. I have no farm experience and find this very interesting - that cows would be aggressive like this.
This is the case. Tails can be stepped on, grabbed or broken by livestock. There’s also hygiene - e.g. burrs in the tail, and identification as a working dog - that’s related to historical taxing of pets vs working dogs not taxed.
The other aspect this owner talked about is that the tails are not docked, they are tied immediately after birth as per the umbilical cord and similarly “fall off.” This is a less invasive method than surgically docking the tail.
And then about 30% of Australian Shepherds are born with a natural bobtail.
Here’s a benefit of the internet - let’s go find a picture out of the millions available - of a dog being thrown by a cow. Ok - so I found just two - the first smacked by a cow and the second - who knows what in the second image. Definitely a dog is in the air. The third image is one that I took from a video and that definitely showed the cow flinging the dog in the air. The video is HERE.
Mostly the pictures show the dogs being very aggressive and biting at the cows.
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