Animal charities and vets have urged MPs to outlaw the practice of docking the tails of dogs for cosmetic reasons.

Under existing law only a vet can dock tails for either health or cosmetic reasons with any lay person carrying out the procedure liable to prosecution.

The RSPCA has successfully prosecuted one Bradford woman for docking the tails of 12 Boxer puppies.

Audrey Jenkinson, of Beck Hill, near Woodside, Bradford, was fined £200 for docking the tails puppies in the kitchen, while the owners waited in the living room. Seven puppies in the litter died from blood loss caused by docking.

Inspector Lynsey Harris, who investigated the case in 2004, said: "The owners claimed that they had no idea it was illegal for Jenkinson to dock their pups - they were issued with a verbal warning.

"I can't imagine how anyone can justify docking a pup's tail in such an amateurish and brutal manner.

"This is why tail docking for cosmetic reasons should be banned by the Animal Welfare Bill."

Docking involves cutting or crushing a puppy's skin, muscles, bone and cartilage, up to seven pairs of nerves and is generally performed without anaesthetic when pups are as young as three to five days old.

The RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the British Small Animal Veterinary Association urged MPs, who were discussing the Animal Welfare Bill yesterday during its second reading in the House of Commons, to take notice of a MORI poll which shows that 75 per cent of the public oppose the practice of tail docking.

The three groups hope that MPs will take the opportunity to ban the practice altogether and only allow it for therapeutic reasons where a vet deems it necessary, such as after a road accident.

At the moment the Bill includes a regulation to exempt certain mutilations for which a ban is considered inappropriate such as castrating and spaying cats and dogs, or ear tagging cattle.

It might allow the tail docking of working dogs which are likely to work, on the ground that they are particularly prone to injury. But president of the BVA, Dr Freda Scott-Park, said: "The argument that dogs' tails should be docked to prevent future injury, so-called prophylactic docking, is spurious too.

"We would not consider amputating a baby's finger to prevent it from future injury, nor removing a cat's tail because it might later get trapped.

"So why perform a painful operation which will deprive a dog of a form of expression and an aid to balance?"

A spokesman for the PDSA, which runs the PetAid hospital in Lorne Street, East Bowling, Bradford, said: "The ban on tail docking is something that we are supporting."