Dew Claws removed.

[gasman]

How important is it to have the dew claws removed from gun dogs?

Why?




Peter

[Birdguy]

Really depends on how much you like your dog. I got a dog a while back before I started hunting that still had his dew claws. I figured no big deal as the other farm dogs I had growing up never had an issue. I started hunting and things were fine until I managed to get my brothers, dad, and nephew together for their first pheasant hunt. I paid the money for a hunt at Reecer Creek and was stoked to go. We were not there 20 minutes had missed two birds (I was no longer having much fun seeing my brothers laugh as $50 flew away) when the dog came back running but bleeding like crazy. After a little inspection we noticed that he had torn his dew claws on both his front legs. We put him in the kennel and went to try to fix it. By the time we got back to the club house the dog had chewed off both nails and when we open the kennel out he came. We did the duck tape repair (using the first aid kit and my brother the PAs best tape job) and off he went to hunt. We finished the hunt missing 6 of 10birds and the dog was sore for a few days but I will never put another dog through that. Every pup I raised has had claws removed and I will not purchase one that does not have it done either.
   Even though it was not the best display of marksmanship it is one of my favorite trips ever. I will never hunt again with my Dad, but hopefully I will with my brothers and nephew. I keep those pictures in my locker at work

[Schmalzfam]

I will ditto that..prime example of why it is important. We have a Lab who had her dewclaws removed but, when we picked her up at 7 weeks we noticed they had started to grow back, deformed of course because they were partially clipped. At 12 weeks she was old enough to stand being put under for the surgery so, we had them redone.
That is how important we feel it is. I have seen some nasty ripped dewclaws, even on carpet..when they snag and get caught.

It's inexpensive to do when they are pups and worth it for sure!

[Charlie]