RE docking dog's tails - I had a pup once, a doberman-hound cross.   Very cute, when she was tiny. And her tail and ears had been left as is.

Well, the ears were no problem, but the tail? By the time she was about 6 months old, that dog - or rather, it's tail - had become a real hazard. When the poor thing was happy to see you, it would clear off the table(s) in one swipe. It could knock a 6 year old off their feet. And if you got thwacked, WOW - you wore the welts for the rest of the day.

Ended up having to take the dog to the SPCA before it was a year old, to protect myself, my toddlers, my furnishings and my students from that incredible tail. IT was quite the sorry day. :-(   BUt at least by then I understood, very well, the logic behind docking a doberman's tail, if it's meant to be kept as a housepet anyway. Had her tail been docked before she was weaned, I might still have her company today.   :-(

So sometimes, a bit of "mutilation" is in a creature's best interests - and in the best interests of everything in it's immediate vicinty too.