Clause 5 - Mutilation
Animal Welfare Bill
5:00 pm
Shona McIsaac (PPS (Rt Hon Alun Michael, Minister of State), Department of Trade and Industry; Cleethorpes, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman says that there would be no reason for people not to have an undocked dog in any breed, but I have had communications from quite a number of constituents who support tail docking. They tell me that their dogs are not working dogs, but pets, and that they have to be docked to maintain the integrity of the breed. That is the strong feeling among constituents, despite what the Kennel Club says. I think that it is nonsense, however, because people do not need to dock a dog's tail to maintain the integrity of the breed. I understand that there are standards for docked and undocked dogs when dogs are shown at Cruft's.