Natural bobtail

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A natural bobtail is a tail which due to a mutated gene grows to a shortened length, or is completed cut off at the base of the spine. The term also refers to animals carrying the gene for a naturally short tail or animals that naturally have no tail. The genes for the shortened tail may be dominant or recessive, depending on the species.

Due to anti-tail docking legislation, natural bobtails are growing in importance in the hobby of dog fancy for some traditionally docked breeds. For example, one Boxer breeder and geneticist in England has successfully petitioned the Kennel Club for permission to cross corgis into his lines and then backcross to Boxers, to introduce the gene into his lines. This would have been unheard of in decades past. A number of these bobtail Boxers have been exported to various countries around the world with success.

In Australia, the prices for a registered purebred Miniature Fox Terrier bitch carrying the gene have more than tripled.

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[edit] Animal species with a natural bobtail:

[edit] Domesticated breeds with a natural bobtail:

[edit] Breeds in which bobtails are known to occur:

[edit] Wild species with natural bobtails: