I have a dog with a docked tail. They generally dock their tails when they are only a few days old. Docking it at her age now would be VERY painful for her. I would suggest that you do NOT dock it. I think the only reason you should dock a dogs tail when they are older is for medical reasons. Docking when they are younger, I haven't quite made up my mind on that one seeing I have a dog with a docked tail as thats the breed standard for GSPs. I agree, your breeder is very ignorant. As for the balance thing, I don't know, Heidi seems to balance pretty well.