Chewing Tail

[teach]

I have a 4 yr old English springer bitch. She had a litter 12 weeks ago. After the birth she started gnawing at her tail (docked). Chomping off chunks of hair down to the skin. We thought it might have been frustration at being confined to the section after being such an active dog, but now the pups are older and she is getting huge runs along the beach etc every day, she is still gnawing at it. It does look quite disgusting having a big bald area on the end.

It has been suggested that I smear it with mustard to try and break the habit. It does not appear to be infected. The vet cannot see any obvious cause for irritation. I suspect it may be an irritation because the of the puppy biscuits she started eating (we have gone back to the raw diet). We did think that may be it is an attention seeking behaviour due to the puppies getting more attention than her.

Any suggestion? I want to start showing her again next month and her tail looks a mess.