/ 1 August 1997

Foreskins and puppy dogsÕ tails

Kobus Rust, of the South African Boerboel BreedersÕ Association (ÒBoerboels: A breed apartÓ, Letters, July 25 to 31) excellently describes this pure and attractive breed.

But I do wonder, as I do when I look at our poodlesÕ tails, why we choose to mutilate some breeds? Or is a Boerboel, like a Manx cat, born with a stump?

Where is it carved in stone that puppy dogsÕ tails must be severed, whatever the justification? If ever again I order a poodle or Dobermann or Boerboel or Rottweiler, I shall insist their tail is left intact (after all, my husband hung on to his foreskin). Ñ Gorry Bowes Taylor