The American Beagler Forum

One of my pups has a down and towards the front hook tail, about the length that would bloody up in the field. Is this a vet fix or is there something I can do? Born 9/4 at 730 pm. Thanks.

Take a very sharp knife or a razor blade and cut the hook off right now or tomorrow.Don't wait .
I would recommend that you have some stop-bleed powder or a styptic pencil that you can treat the cut end with.Usually if you do tails and dew claws within the first 3 days there is very little discomfort for the puppy as nerve endings and blood flow are minimal.

Shady grove is right sounds harsh but it ain't bad seen several of them done. My uncle use to raise little rat terrier dogs and he would lay there tail out on the porch and take a sharp pocket knife and cut them off to a stub not a big deal at all.

I been Docking my Pups for many years,just like they say. Have to get it done ASAP ! Reason I started doing that back in the 90's I was running my hounds in the ARHA, Progressive Pack Div that was started up at that time, my hounds were so bad at having bloody tails, that it was causing them to waste, some time, licking their tails, when running ever week end for the Sunshine Mills Hound Of the Years contest they didn't ever heal up. After the Dock tails, those hounds did lots better in the Event ever year.

D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

It's a deformity and a fault, I waited a long time to get a hound from a breeding of a line one time. I never knew this fault had been covered up in the line and I was apt to get it in my breeding. After the faults came out in the first cross, I got rid of the whole line.
The old brace beaglers use to get it alot, Black creeks and Pearson creeks. Some got to docking all their pups so the ones with the deformity wouldn't be known, but that only helped it to be spread through the beagle breed, some hounds were even named Stubby or Crook for their defect. My uncle used to call any new-born pups with defects "water babies" and they never lived.
Now a kinked tail never kept a hound from running a rabbit, but I believe as a breeder, you have to take responsibility for what you create in the beagle breed and pass on to others. I've kept and cared for a few culls I'd created and failed to do the right thing early on, some I gave away on the contract that they be "fixed" unable to be bred & without papers.
Imho, beagles shouldn't be turned into designer dogs like the Doberman. Without all the clipping and cropping, they look like a black and tan...lol
Most times we learn the hard way.
Good luck with your puppies...

Back in the late 60's and early 70's it was my job to dock the tails of the Brittany's or Weimeraner's that were born with too long of a tail. What I was taught to do was tie a piece of butchers string tightly around the tail at the desired length. After 3 or 4 days the end would shrivel and die. At that point using a very sharp fillet knife, I would cut the tail, dip it in alcohol, and then in talcum powder to stop any bleeding. I did this when the pups were only a few days old.
Granted there are probably better ways to do this but keep in mind it was the late 60's.

Good luck with your pup

I went on U-tube and there's a lot of " how to" videos on the subject. Never seen this in a litter and not on the daddy's side either and I would have to see it again before I'd say it qualifies as a fault. Your passing on an interesting bit of beagle history on that I didn't know existed.
I chose to use my vet this time and he never beat up me to bad since I've been with him a long time. The device he used fits over the tail and cuts with enough skin left over to sew over the stump. There's another method on U-tube done with a scissors that's just as easy. Next litter I'll be ready with a suture kit and a sharp scissors to do it myself.
Thanks for all your replies. Mom and pups are doing well. She's pulled them out of the doghouse and keeps them on the shady side of it and there's no sense in trying to change her mind, she just puts them right back.
Stay safe and get out in the field as much as you can. Thank you.