Message #417243

[halfbreed]

  i read an interesting fact a while back on the subject , the practice was brought over from the english and it was a tax issue in that country . people were charged a tax on their  [pets ] but not on stock or working dogs . the working dogs tails were docked to remove them from being taxable , and gave the government a way of identifying a working dog from a pet . later it just became pretty much a breed standard to everybody .