After reading some of your replies, I'm very interested in learning more about the reasons people have docked and cropped in the past. I'm not convinced that there's ever a good reason to dock or crop, but up until now I'd always assumed it was purely cosmetic, and therefore completely unnecessary.
I have heard that kennel clubs and groups that put on dog shows have relaxed their rules somewhat to include dogs that haven't been docked or cropped. Well, it's about time.
Our Welsh Corgi has a docked tail (done before we bought her--a side note is that she was rejected by the breeder because she wasn't show material). I'm not sure what would have possessed someone to dock a Corgi's tail for cosmetic reasons--have you ever seen a Corgi's rear end? It's really not terribly attractive--it looks like a gorilla's! So, I'm wondering if there's another reason.
If it were up to me, I'd say no crops and docks. I'm sure dogs of all breeds were doing just fine before we took our scissors to them.
(I'm in the US, in Texas.)

[This message has been edited by Smilla (edited October 20, 2000).]