Italian dog shelter has a dog i wanted to adopt. Completely fell in love with him. He is 2, mixed breed, quiet with front leg injury.
Turns out he has his tail docked shortly after birth.
Did anyone have any luck importing such dogs in here? I know you can bring them with you as part of the relocation process. I have been here for 3 years now so it will not be possible. My heart breaks for the dog and i will do anything i can to get him here.
thanks
It is possible to import a dog with a naturally born short tail, but the burden of proof is on you to show that the dog was born this way. Veterinary records, attestation of breeder, etc, might serve to prove that a shortened tail is natural.
A tail that was surgically docked (or worse, turniquetted) after birth is not allowed, full stop.
To show how strict this can be, the rescue I volunteer with tried to bring in an adult dog - of a breed that is never docked for cosmetic reasons - whose tail had to be amputated because of servere injury... and were denied. Even a Tierschutz case was not enough to allow the dog into Switzerland.
So if you know that the docking was done post birth, than I'm afraid the news is not good - you may not bring the dog in.
If you have lost your heart to this dog, while you cannot adopt him in Switzerland, perhaps you can at least donate something to his continued care in the country he is now in.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
ETA: See the linked document 'Fragen und Antworten rund um coupierte Hunde', point 5, for the proof needed to apply for an exception.
https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/de/home...frettchen.html
As you can see, the burden of proof is high. in the case I am familiar with although we had 'after the fact' opinion from the shelter vet saying amputation was done due injury, matching the history of the dog, the information available to the shelter was not considered sufficient, import to Switzerland denied.
Docking shortly after birth is typical of a cosmetic practice, the kind that Switzerland has taken strict measures to stamp out. Unless you have rock solid proof, establised at the time of the amputation, that this was not a cosmetic docking you have to accept that this dog cannot come to Switzerland.
But having been there done that, I urge you to look at this realistically. That the dog is a Brittany mix, a breed traditionally docked, and in Italy where docking is still common among a certain segment, and that the tail was cut off shortly after birth, speaks to the likelihood that this dog was docked for cosmetic reasons..
Jackie’s situation was different. Hers was a family dog, one whose history she had been involved in. She had the attestation of the vet who saw the injuries, determined that a medical amputation was a medical necessity. She had X-rays and medical reports from the vet involved.
Unless the shelter has the original reports from when the tail was cut off, proving medical necessity, you are fighting an uphill battle.
It’s important to understand the animal welfare stance. Before the ban came into effect, people here thought nothing of cutting off dogs’ tails and ears, all for a look. Sure, some argued that this was ‘preventative’ amputation - a specious argument at best. Many fought the ban, largely because they could not accept that the practice they had blindly followed all these years was abuse.
The strict ban is intended so that we do not return to those days. If the Bund were to grant wider exceptions so that suddenly we become used to seeing dogs who have been docked again, the uninformed public could all too easy relapse into thinking this awful practice as something benign.
Yours is one of those heartbreaking cases where the welfare of the individual could have negative effects of the welfare of the whole.
If you are determined to pursue this, follow the document I linked. Can you provide the proof required? (Remember that in Switzerland everything is local, even decisions made by bureaucrats. I have never worked with your canton’s .Veterinäramt.)
But please, be mentally and emotionally prepared for a denial.
Also ask yourself - could you better help this dog in another way?
Could you commit to a Patenschaft, where you took on the expense of the dog’s care while in the shelter, including extraordinary medical expenses?
Could you use your network to help find this dog a home in another country, where the barrier to importation is not so high? Could you work with the shelter to widen publicity for this dog?
As above, I understand, truly. I’ve moved heaven and earth to help individual dogs. But I have also learned that there are times when the best thing I can do is to accept the limits that living in Switzerland imposes, and direct all my resources to helping the dog get ready - medically, behaviorally, socially - for adoption by a good family in another country.
Wishing you and this dog all the best.
ETA:
I know of one family who took ‘moving heaven and earth’ to another level. When they could not bring the dog to Switzerland, they decided to move to another country. Could you see going that far?