Paddy Tipping defends tail docking

This Telegraph article (registration required), reports that Ben Bradshaw (the animal welfare minister), will be including a full ban on tail docking in the animal welfare legislation.

Paddy Tipping, however, is in favour of an exemption for working dogs because docking avoids the potential for more harmful damage to tails later in life. From a position of considerable canine ignorance, this sounds sensible enough to me, but apparently 90% of vets are in favour of a ban. (Wonder where this figure came from).

The article also quotes a spokesman from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) who put the case for a working dog exemption. Interestingly on the BASC website, you can see this picture of Paddy Tipping at their 2004 fair.
.

He doesn't list shooting as an interest, but it frequently crops up in his questions and activities. Perhaps he is even a BASC member.