A friend of mine has just had a pup born with a half length tail.....in a breed where long tails are a neccecity....just wondered if anyones come across it before? I suspect there was probably a bit of a hiccup in development, but interested to know if others have come across it?

Not a dog but we had a piglet born with virtually no tail which was put down to a development problem and the rest of the litter all had normal tails.

ETA the pig wasn't put down - it was assumed that the tail problem was a development one

Never seen it in a breed without short tails being in their lines.  Wde advise for vet to see and certify it as being natural then you can do any events with it.

I've got one exactly like Harley describes, right now. Half length (if that) and curled like a pig's tail -but NOT a piglet LOL. Otherwise pup all fine and normal. Rest of litter normal. Have seen it in a kitten once as well -plus in my first ever litter of kittens there was a kitten with half a tail, not curled though. Personally I think it was overcrowding in the womb with the later two as both litters were large ones and very tightly packed.

I had stumpy tailed BC x pups although the father was on the run, so no idea. 6 pups were born, four had stumpy tails. 2 years on and they look like BC's but doG only knows whats "in" them.

I had 2 pups with three quarter length tails and one with a 90 degree kink at the base (they are 2 weeks old). The vet checked them over at 2 days old and said it was overcrowding as it was a litter of 14!!!!  The kinked tail has already straightened remarkably (now about 30 degrees) and the vet said it will keep improving as the pup grows and develops.

A friend of mine had a litter where one pup had a half length slightly kinked tail, this bitch is almost 9 now and fit and healthy but there were some problems with the rest of the litter that weren't obvious at first. One bitch didn't have any ovaries, wasn't noticed till she went in to be neutered and one dog had some neurological problems. From a litter of 6 only 3 were normal...well I say normal but one of those is my Mr Beastly   We wonder if the problems with this litter were due to the stud dog being on rimadyl at time of mating.

sleepwhatsleep, interested in that as my breed can be born with natural short tails.  The girl that I have kept has got a total bob but her litter brother had a short tail which is also at a 90degree angle, not noticeable so much when dry but looks comical when wet!  Will be interesting to see if his straightens out a bit also.

A white GSD belonging to a lady I know was born with a stump of tail that was also malformed and rigid to one side.  It caused her problems (pain) when sitting and eventually it had to be docked at 18 months old, as it got caught  and knocked causing discomfort.