Most of the dogs that have their tails docked are german breeds, such as boxers, rotties, and dobermans. The reason they docked thier tails is because they were used at first as hunting dogs. If they left thier tails on, they would constantly cut their tails on the thick briars and brush. As the years went by, Germans found other uses for the dogs. Dobermans and rotties were (and still)
used for law enforcement, and boxers for bull baiting. But they still cropped the tails out of habit.


With that in mind, you have to realize that these dogs have went many generations not having a tail. So, in the same way that border collies have hearding instincts even if they haven't been trained, the german dogs have no instinct on how to deal with a tail!

So, if you do not crop a dobermans tail, he will hit it, cut it, and get it caught into everything. They can get infections in the tail that could be life threatening!