There have been a lot of interesting things being told about bob tails in Schipperkes. So we decided to put a page up to settle some of the misinformation out there.
Schipperkes have a bob tail gene that has existed from the very beginning of the breed: in fact, it may be the reason there IS a Schipperke breed around today! Before 1880, it was a dog in Belgium that had fallen out of fashion, but there were legends throughout the countryside of a breed of dog born without a tail. The legends spoke of a dog that was always born without a tail, but the breed itself was considered nearly extinct. Because of this, the original group of fanciers, that sought to bring the breed back from extinction, used the dogs that were considered to be true to the old stock, whether they had a tail or not. The tails were docked, but the original intent was to breed them back, once the breed had safe numbers, to being a breed naturally born without a tail. The only problem was that they did not understand two important things about the bob tail gene that would make this task impossible.
1. The bob tail gene always varies in length. Some bob tails are born appearing to be tailless, others have nearly a full tail. There is also everything in between, from a stub, to half, to 3/4 tail. All are caused by one dominant gene, but what controls the length of the tail is currently unknown.
2. They did not understand the genetic nature of the TBox gene - in fact, that would not be understood for over 100 years. The TBox gene is dominant: this means one parent MUST be a bob tail to produce a bob tail puppy. Moreover, a puppy which inherits the bob tail gene from both parents is known as a double dominant, and this is lethal. Most of these puppies die in utero and are absorbed. A few are born still born, and even fewer are born with malformations that require them to be put to sleep. None of them survive long enough to grow up and go to new homes, so you don't have to worry that your puppy is going to die of this! What this does mean, though, is that bob tails should never be bred together. Now, once you understand this, you will know that there are 3 combinations you can make in the Schipperke breed: full tail to full tail, which will produce all full tails. Bob tail to full tail, which will produce 50% (on average) bob tails. Bob tail to bob tail, which will produce (on average) 25% puppies that will likely die in utero, 50% bob tails, 25% full tails. Thus the appearance will be a small litter where 2/3's are bob tails and 1/3 are full tails. That means full tail puppies can always be produced in every litter no matter how hard you try to breed only bob tails!
Eventually the founding breeders gave up on the idea and legends were suggested as to how the Schipperke was first docked. The cobbler legend, where two men fought over the dogs and one cut the other's dog's tail off, was the first to make its appearance in 1889. The very first time the Schipperke breed was ever attempted to be connected to the shepherds (based on looks alone, and this could not have been done much earlier since the BSD breed was not created until a few short years before this), the connection was based on the idea that shepherds were docked, so many that is why Schipperkes were docked. Others suggested sillier things, such as the wagging of the tail might capsize a boat, or knock things off the boat, or cause the dog itself to fall off of the boat. Today, docking legends still abound but the obvious answer has escaped notice: perhaps the Schipperke has always had its naturally tailless puppies born, and those were the ones that attracted the most attention? It is also possible that people who owned these dogs when they were still worth very little, had people interested in owned a "tailless" dog of their own, and bit off the puppies' tails in order to sell them for a few coppers? (Yes, this is indeed how tails were docked in those days). After all, there is truly nothing special in a dog that has been docked - any dog can have its tail cut off. What is special is to have a dog with an interesting feature like that that attracts attention, and it is natural. To further support this theory, there are a few early records that suggest that not all of these dogs were docked, even in those days: one Englishmen describes seeing several Schipperkes with their tails on in Brussels in the late 1880's.
So, about the bob tail, how prevalent is it in the Schipperke breed? It has clearly been in the breed from the beginning, in fact, at one point, a plan was suggested where puppies were going to be examined at birth to see which were born without tails, or close to it. Flo, the first Schipperke sold into England, was a bob tail. Professor Ruel, one of the leading veterinarians, describes seeing several bob tails, though he contains none were actually completely tailless (for which we agree, a bob tail only has a tail short enough to appear to be tailless). In 1907, Dr Freeman wrote of the issue in his book, The Schipperke, and he said that many dogs were sent to England under the guise of having been born tailless, and when their get had tails, the pups were destroyed as not being purebred. He points out another obvious feature: every dog which is docked always, always!, has a scar! He stated that he had only produced a few bob tails, but another, larger breeder had produced 16 tailless and 120 with a stump out of 323 born. That is a ratio of 39% bob tails being born in one kennel. It may be that breeder was breeding bob tails together, we cannot know. Later on, Isobel Ormiston wrote in America that in certain Schipperke families bob tails were produced. It would appear that one early sire, CH Walrose Ebony Captain ROM, was a bob tail, as was his son, CH Velart's Felix. This dog (Ebony Captain) is found behind most American Schipperkes today. This stated, once a full tail is kept, a particular line loses the bob tail gene - it is as simple as that. I know of several breeders across the country that have bob tails in their lines and breed them without issue, today.
Today, in many countries, the bob tail gene is sought as a way to have a tailless Schipperke without docking. When I docked my Schipperkes, I wanted to get away from this gene: it made them harder to dock. Once I stopped docking, I still had the bob tail (I was not going to throw out good dogs for a gene which can be perfectly understood, is absolutely safe, and easily tested for even without the obvious evidence). Two things changed my opinion on bob tails: one, I did stop docking. Without having to worry about docking a puppy, I did not have worry about them being a bob tail making that task that much harder. I also came to realize that most of them are quite cute that way. Second, as I worked on the translations and organizations of the early articles on this breed, I came to realize that this gene is absolutely historic to this breed. Now, I don't advocate breeding a dog because it is a bob tail, but neither do I advocate not breeding a dog because it is a bob tail! I do not feel that this is a gene that should be "kicked out" of the breed, because it truly is so much tied to the breed's history. I look at it like this: originally, the Schipperke was supposed to be a completely naturally tailless breed of dogs - every one, born that way. That is not true BUT this can still be a breed where occasionally a naturally tailless dog is born. I agree with the breeders in Europe: I don't want to dock, and I think the Schipperke has a beautiful tail, but I also love the ones that come along upon occasion that are born as they were originally thought to be born. Even though it is not universal, it is still something special in this breed!
This brings up another point: there are apparently breeders out there today who breed for the bob tail gene, and then dock whatever tail happens to appear. Because the dog is genetically a bob tail, they can pass the dog off as a completely tailless dog, when in fact the dog had a partial tail and is still a docked dog! But a docked dog is still a docked dog and there will always be a scar. Looking for the scar is simple and painless: set your thumb sideways just above the butt hole and run your thumb up looking at the skin as you go. If the dog is docked, whether surgically, or banded, you will find a distinct scar. Typically what you will find with a naturally tailless dog is a small point in the skin where there is a thicker clump of longer overcoat hair: this is the last little bit of tail. (All of these are pictured to the right). We will hope that sometime soon in Europe where Schipperkes cannot be shown if docked that this simple test is learned and performed on all dogs shown in competition.
I hope this answers any questions you have about the bob tails and the Schipperke breed. If not, email me and I will do my best to answer your questions!
This is the Schipperke that was painted in the 1850's at a Flemish Horse Fair. Note the little stub tail which is often seen on bob tails today. It is very possible that this dog was, indeed, born this way!
This is Fandal's Una Notte, both without a tail. Her mother is a bob tail, much the same length as the dog painted in the 1850s.
An xray of Una, not the end of her spine.
Here is a scar left behind by docking. If a dog is banded the scar is not quite this distinct, but it is still very visible.
This is a picture of the area right above Una's butt hole. Not the complete absence of a scar, how the hairs are evenly distributed, and how there is a small area of very dense outer coat growing in one area. This is what you will find when the dog is truly born tailless without being docked.
This is Kurakuma's Natural Charm, who was born with a very tiny tail - such that she appears to be born "tailless". She, like Una, is perfectly healthy and will not suffer from any health issues from being a "bob tail".
A small stub or "button butt".
Schipperkes are not the only breed who deals with this issues, other breeds have been studying the bob tail gene (TBox Mutation) as well: https://www.welshcorgi-news.ch/Gesundheit/Bobtails_eng.html
"Latte", a 4 months, a natural bob tail. She is the mother of many winning Schipperkes in Europe, both full tails and bob tails.