The Australian Shepherd has always been a breed known for its bobbed tail. The breed has always carried the gene for a naturally bobbed tail, however traditionally the tails have been docked to provide a uniformed tail length under 4 inches long. Docking was banned in the UK in April 2007. 

 

A naturally short tail is often referred to as 'NBT' or natural bob tail. 

The gene for shortening tails in the Australian Shepherd, is a dominant trait, which means a dog only needs to have 1 copy of the gene to have a shortened tail. However the gene does not shorten the tail at a specific point. This means a dog could be 1 vertebrae short of a full tail, down to having no obvious tail at all. Where shortened tails appear in a litter you will get a wide variety of tail lengths within the litter. It is rare for a litter of bobbed tails to be all the same length. 

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Where both parents are genetically a full tail all puppies in a litter will have full tails. 

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Where 1 or both parents carry the NBT gene you will have a mixture of various length bobbed tails and full tails. This can vary from the majority (or all)of pups having a bobbed tail, with only the odd tail. To the majority of the pups having full tails with only the odd bobbed tail. 

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Because Docking in the UK is banned, all tail lengths are acceptable in the breed. And when showing in the UK a dog should not be penalised for having a tail or longer NBT. Breeders should not be inflating their prices for dogs who have a naturally very short tail. 

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If you aren't sure whether your dog has the NBT gene, there is a DNA test available which will identify the gene, although it cant give the length of the bobbed tail. Most labs in the UK are able to test for the gene. 

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