Anyone know why some breeds of dogs have five toes and others have four on each paw?

Question

my mixed shepard Wylee has 4 toes on front paws and five toes on back paws the 5th toe is 4 inches up the leg from the foot ?
serves no purpose ... just hangs there

Answer 1

Those are dewclaws. Some breeds have dewclaws only on the front feet. Some have them on both front and back. I'd guess your Wylee is mixed with one of those breeds and got the dewclaws on the back feet but not the front. It's basically like your thumb, but the dogs didn't need the extra digit so it stayed up high or was even lost all together. Many times dewclaws are removed as young puppies because of issues with the nail getting caught and tearing the toe off or on breeds that need to be shaved (it is easier and safer to shave the leg without having to go around the toe).

Answer 2

That is the "Dou-Claw" ( I am sure I spelled it wrong), BUT according to some vets, that extra little useless toe can be good. If a dog was to be bitten by a rattlesnake, they believe that the extra toe has a way of preventing the dog from dying...do not ask me where they got this idea from, but I know a few vets that agree with it.

Some dogs when they are born, the breeders remove the "DOU CLAW" because it looks dumb, but my dogs all have them on their back paws, the breeders did not remove them. We have a lot of snakes in this area too, and they all believe the same thing about the claw and it having some healing quality against poisionous snakes.

Answer 3

That's VERY unusual. MOST dogs have 5 toes on their front paws, and 4 on the back. The "5th" toe you speak about is actually called a "dew claw" (for reasons unknown to ME). Alot of people have them removed.
I had an Old English Sheep Dog who had a DOUBLE dew claw on EACH back foot. We just left them there. They never bothered HER, so why bother THEM?

Answer 4

What you're referring to is the dewclaw. Some dogs are just born without as many...they can have up to four (one on each foot). Sporting breeds will typically have them removed by the breeder or vet a a couple days old...they are likely to rip them off as they get older. The rear ones are very likely to be ripped off because they have nothing supporting them. If your dog does a lot of running, etc, and he hasn't been spayed/neutered, you should have the dewclaws removed at that time. It's best to have them removed at a couple days old, but at surgery time is good too. With rear ones it's usually best to have them removed, because most dogs will rip them off and then it will be more expensive to repair.

Answer 5

Those 5th toes are called teh dew claw. For many breeds, especially working breeds, they are cut off at birth because of the risk of getting it caught or ripped off later on in life. In reality, you can keep it and it wouldn't do anything good or bad for the dog if you keep him indoors or in a yard all the time. Its normal for pet dogs to keep them. 90% of working dogs though, have them removed within a couple days of birth, usually at the same time their tails are docked.

Answer 6

Yes, the fifth toe is a dew claw which is usually surgically removed after birth.

Answer 7

Some breeds have dew claws on four feet, some on three, some on two and some on one. They don't serve any purpose. But those ones that hang there can get caught on things and get torn and bleed!

Answer 8

You bet! The toes are vestigial, which means they are there for decoration. Good boy, Wylee!

Answer 9

I'm not positve, but I belive that that extra toe is just a normal thing for dogs, if you're talking about what I think you're talking about.

Answer 10

Dew claws are useless(vestigal).Should be removed.

*UNLESS* they are IN THE BREED STANDARD!!!

The rattler thing? TOTAL *B-S*!!!
LMAO!!! Some people will believe *ANYTHING*!!!!