Some breed magazines a few
years ago carried a short article by Doctors Foster and Smith on dew claws.
Now, these are good vets and good businessmen as well as lovers of dogs,
and besides, one of them looks a little like me, so they must be really
good, right? However, I would like to give another side of the picture
than their surgeon’s view, that of the breeder, handler, trainer, naturalist,
and judge. These vets concluded that dew claws are undeveloped and
serve no purpose, and on the basis of this erroneous premise, they advocate
removal. I’m not going to play the purist here and now, as I usually
do, to insist that the word “dew claw” should only be applied to the first
digit on the REAR limb when it exists, and that the one corresponding
to a thumb should simply be called a “first digit”. But I AM suggesting
that the first digit on the front limb IS indeed useful and functional.
I have raised and raced Whippets, reared hundreds of my own puppies and
adults, worked Shepherds in Schutzhund, handled and judged all breeds, and
closely observed all types of dogs. I am sure that vets see some torn
small digits, especially the less developed rear ones, but I have seen countless
active dogs break through crusty snow, ice, and very rough brush, on the
sleeve in bite work, and both hunt and lure course over broken ground with
no torn first digits on the forelimb. I have also observed innumerable
dogs using that first digit in manipulating bones, sticks up to the size
of logs, balls, and other toys. I have seen many dogs use them to get
out objects that were stuck between their teeth, and even to remove (gingerly)
material from the eyelids. I have watched them scratch their muzzles
with these little claws, grasp the Schutzhund sleeve, and do other useful,
functional things with them. I respectfully submit that you might
get a second opinion, especially from an experienced dog trainer/breeder,
if your vet wants to remove them.
The forepaw’s first digit (sometimes called the medial digit or thumb)
has inward and outward rotator muscles as well as flexor and externsor
muscles such as the pollicis brevis. They each have their own ennervation
(motor nerves serving to contract those muscles). On the other
hand, the first digit (muscles, ligaments, and bones) of the hind paw is
usually absent. In those breeds where it is completely developed, branches
of an extensor and a flexor muscle accompany its own muscle, the hallucis
brevis, a very weak and “fleshy” organ --- so weak and soft, in fact, that
it could be said that the dog has no observable motor control of it.
What about those true dew claws, the ones on the rear limbs? I agree
that these seem to be useless appendages, as I’ve never seen any muscular
control over them, even in the breeds whose standards require them to be
present, such as the Briard or Beauceron or Great Pyrenees. I wonder
what reason they are there, too, when they have been lost from the genotype
of most other breeds, but I haven’t seen any torn up dew claws on such
dogs as have them. I haven’t worked those breeds on sheep flocks,
so I can’t be as sure, but I tend to give at least mild approval
of their recommendations here. I can imagine these lower to
the ground, non prehensile claws being snagged in very rough use, such
as might accompany the injuries to the stop pads I’ve seen in coursing hounds.
Some people have claimed that they interfere with good movement in the ring
by brushing against each other and the hock on the opposite leg, but I can
tell you I’ve seen many a true, single tracking single- and double dew claw
dog moving away with no trace of interference, and I’ve never seen a movement
fault that I could attribute to the presence of those claws.
So, do you want to get rid of the ones on the rear in your German Shepherd
Dog (usually imported) or other breeds in which the show fashion does not
call for them? Go ahead. If you wish not to be bothered with
it yourself, or if the “roots” are very developed; i.e., if the bones
in that phalange are ossified and/or there is an active growth plate, surgery
at the clinic is the way to go. Now, I won’t suggest you do otherwise,
because some reactionary young vet might kick up some dust with accusations
about practicing veterinary medicine without a license, but I CAN tell you
what I’ve seen and heard or done, and you can take them as anecdotes rather
than advice. Remember that animal husbandry, the father of veterinary
practice, is itself a timeless occupation of farmers, shepherds, and drovers;
the people who worked with their own animals and successfully treated them
were asked by their neighbours for help and gradually became “horse doctors”.
Numerous breeders or owners today still do their own tail docking, ear cropping,
medicating, removal of gas from the belly of a colic stricken sheep or other
animal, first aid, even minor suturing. I have neighbours who castrate
their own pigs and de-horn their own cattle, and dairymen friends who remove
dead or breech calves by reaching in up to their armpits. Therefore,
can it be at all surprising that many dog breeders remove dew claws themselves?
They find that if it is tiny and has the appearance of being loosely
attached “by a thread”, it is easy to remove a dew claw at home. The
typical practice is to tie a very tight knot around it, as close to the
body as possible, and on as young a dog as possible, and as the pup grows
the stricture will become relatively tighter. Nutrient supply to the
little flap is prevented, and eventually (often in just a few days), the
piece dries up and falls off. Most people use dental floss or nylon
filament, cutting the ends short enough not to be an attraction to the pup
or its dam, and long enough to see that it is still there until the operation
is complete. This is the same method used by people who dock their
own puppies’ tails, in which case the medium used is most often a very tight
rubber band: the unwanted portion of the tail simply falls off.
Many prefer this to the sudden, but very slightly traumatic surgical approach
at the veterinary clinic. They claim the pup experiences only minor
and fleeting discomfort, and there is no need for sutures, usually not a
drop of blood, and no infection or bill for antibiotics and an office visit
at that time. It’s your dog, and your choice. Make it a wise
and humane one.
Incidentally, while in Germany one year for the largest specialty show
in the world, I was shown an instrument sold for castration of pigs and
sheep, but used by the breeders for docking tails also. It looked like
a pliers but had four rod shaped “jaws” instead of two grippers. When the
handles were squeezed hard, the prongs opened (spread) the tough elastic
rubber cord into a wider circle (actually a square), and what was before
a very small diameter O-ring was now big enough to fit over a scrotum or
tail. When the handles were relaxed, the ring came off and closed amazingly
tightly. Animals felt little or no discomfort, but lost those parts that
were no longer getting nourishment from the blood supply.
COPYRIGHT © Fred Lanting 
