Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, docking has been banned. However an exemption has been put in place for Spaniels, Terriers and Hunt, Point and Retrieve breeds that are used to work. This means that puppies of some types of dog may be docked by a veterinary surgeon providing this is done within the first five days of life, and that the owner (breeder) can prove that the puppies have been bred to work i.e. they must be able to show the vet either a gun licence or a letter from a land occupier which verifies that the owner’s dogs work on his land. The puppies must also be microchipped by a veterinary surgeon. Following both of these procedures the veterinary surgeon must sign certificates to say that the puppies were both docked and microchipped in accordance with the law.

Legally docked dogs may not be shown at events to which members of the public are admitted upon payment of a fee. Docked dogs from overseas may also not be shown at events in England or Wales to which members of the public are admitted upon the payment of a fee, if they were born after the date that the law came into force (April 6th 2007 in England and 28th March 2007 in Wales). However, dogs docked before April 6th 2007 may continue to be shown at all events throughout their lives, as can all puppies born with naturally bobbed tails.

In Scotland, docking was banned completely as of 30th April 2007. This means there is no exemption for working dogs to be docked. However there is no showing ban, meaning that legally docked dogs born in England, Wales or overseas, may be shown at ALL shows in Scotland. For further information please visit this page.

The Kennel Club has for many years allowed customarily docked breeds to be shown with or without their tails being docked and the Breed Standards issued by the Kennel Club indicate this. All breed standards contain a clause to describe the appearance of the docked and the undocked tail in order to enable a judge to assess the tail of an undocked dog of a customarily docked breed. Judges are required to judge both docked and undocked dogs against one another without prejudice.

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