Happy Tail

[TheCheekyMonster]

Gus has happy tail... or I think that's what it is, he is constantly splitting his tail and the bloody is just a nightmare.

I cant have his tail constantly wrapped up can I? does anyone have a dog with happy tail or a dog who is just totally unaware of its tail.

That's the thing he is totally unaware of his tail, how do I teach him to be aware of his tail, I have tried to wait until the tail is not moving and then treat him but he didn't get that he was getting a treat for not moving his tail .

[Jed]

Get one of those plastic hair rollers which will fit onto his tail and tape it on with a suitable dressing. It will give some protection. Good luck

[TheCheekyMonster]

Get one of those plastic hair rollers which will fit onto his tail and tape it on with a suitable dressing. It will give some protection. Good luck

I have done this, for a while it worked but as soon as it comes off he splits it again. So I just wondered if the solution is it needs to just be constantly wrapped, my vet suggested docking but I'm not too keen on that suggestion.

[sas]

Yes, constantly wrapped (padded).

I wouldn't try and train the dog to not tail wag because you don't know if you're rewarding a change of mentality as well which the tail wag is associated with.

If your dog won't keep a wrapping on and the tail cannot heal then docking would be the next logical step.

[SwaY]

Here is a great article on how to tape the tail under the body HERE

[TheCheekyMonster]

Here is a great article on how to tape the tail under the body HERE

I wish I could do this but its not very practical when you have 2 dogs who like to rumble I think it would be dangerous unsupervised.

[TheCheekyMonster]

Yes, constantly wrapped (padded).

I wouldn't try and train the dog to not tail wag because you don't know if you're rewarding a change of mentality as well which the tail wag is associated with.

If your dog won't keep a wrapping on and the tail cannot heal then docking would be the next logical step.

He will keep the wrapping on, guess I will just wrap it up until he learns to chill with the tail whacking

[BlackJaq]

Is he splitting it inside the house or anywhere? I guess if it is an inside only issue you could train him to be calm and stay on his bed during inside time and make sure you increase outdoor activities so he doesn't end up stuck on his bed for too long. If it happens all the time anywhere I would consider docking.

Depending on where he splits it, I might consider a GSP dock (only top third is taken) or a Dobe dock (only a stub is left). My personal preference would probably be the GSP dock for this breed but if he splits his tail very closely to his body then this won't do you much good and you might need to go with the full dock.

How old is he now?

Edited June 6, 2013 by BlackJaq

[TheCheekyMonster]

Is he splitting it inside the house or anywhere? I guess if it is an inside only issue you could train him to be calm and stay on his bed during inside time and make sure you increase outdoor activities so he doesn't end up stuck on his bed for too long. If it happens all the time anywhere I would consider docking.

Depending on where he splits it, I might consider a GSP dock (only top third is taken) or a Dobe dock (only a stub is left). My personal preference would probably be the GSP dock for this breed but if he splits his tail very closely to his body then this won't do you much good and you might need to go with the full dock.

How old is he now?

That's for that, he is 22 months, always splits the tip and mainly inside although he does give it a good bang on anything he can outside and when you ask him to sit he will rub it raw from wagging on the concrete so I try to only make him sit on grass.

He has always been a very high energy dog and its always the initial period when I let him in that his just a wild cannon so I will crate him until his calmed down then let him in.

[BlackJaq]

I would give the bed/crate thing a go before going straight for docking then. Our dogs don't get the run of the house when they are inside, they are made to stay on their beds (at one point we had three large-ish dogs inside a very small house and not enough room for three crates so we mounted rings for tethers on the wall lol).

As soon as they come in they are sent to their bed and basically ignored to help them calm down. Wagging can take a while to die down but once they get the idea they will quickly get into a routine and go to sleep once they go to their bed. We had 1 Weimaraner + 2 mixed breed big-ish bullies inside and no tail injuries once everybody learnt the routine.

We tried not to do much with them indoors to help them stay nice and calm, and concentrated most of our interaction on outside time. We now only have the Weimaraner inside still and the rules have relaxed a bit (she will be 3 in November, so have stuck with this routine for a long time) and she is a very calm inside dog, spending pretty much all indoor time sleeping. We did not allow any play time indoors at all and no toys or treats that would get them revved up. We kept all those things for outside. We also did all feeding outside as there just wasn't enough room inside for everybody to get enough space and one of our bullies is reactive so nobody can be near him at food times anyway.

If he is too wild to crate when he first comes in I would suggest bringing him in on a lead and just holding him calmly until he calms down. It is very important for them to learn to settle and be calm otherwise their tails will definitely take a beating when in confined spaces like indoors.

Hopefully that made some sense and might help you a little. Docking might still end up being the last resort but if you can get him to calm down indoors it might not come to that

ETA: Also, there is no running inside our house EVER because once they start, they end up bouncing all over the furniture and off the walls lol

Edited June 6, 2013 by BlackJaq

[TheCheekyMonster]

I would give the bed/crate thing a go before going straight for docking then. Our dogs don't get the run of the house when they are inside, they are made to stay on their beds (at one point we had three large-ish dogs inside a very small house and not enough room for three crates so we mounted rings for tethers on the wall lol).

As soon as they come in they are sent to their bed and basically ignored to help them calm down. Wagging can take a while to die down but once they get the idea they will quickly get into a routine and go to sleep once they go to their bed. We had 1 Weimaraner + 2 mixed breed big-ish bullies inside and no tail injuries once everybody learnt the routine.

We tried not to do much with them indoors to help them stay nice and calm, and concentrated most of our interaction on outside time. We now only have the Weimaraner inside still and the rules have relaxed a bit (she will be 3 in November, so have stuck with this routine for a long time) and she is a very calm inside dog, spending pretty much all indoor time sleeping. We did not allow any play time indoors at all and no toys or treats that would get them revved up. We kept all those things for outside. We also did all feeding outside as there just wasn't enough room inside for everybody to get enough space and one of our bullies is reactive so nobody can be near him at food times anyway.

If he is too wild to crate when he first comes in I would suggest bringing him in on a lead and just holding him calmly until he calms down. It is very important for them to learn to settle and be calm otherwise their tails will definitely take a beating when in confined spaces like indoors.

Hopefully that made some sense and might help you a little. Docking might still end up being the last resort but if you can get him to calm down indoors it might not come to that

ETA: Also, there is no running inside our house EVER because once they start, they end up bouncing all over the furniture and off the walls lol

Yeap, being calm in general is something we have tried to work on since day 1 with little success, it might not have helped that he was in a very nervous environment when he was a pup, I now live by myself with Nala and my OH and I think it will just be like working with a huge pup again, taking things right back to basics, I do have an appointment with a behaviourist just to help me understand things a little better.

The only time he is chilled out is on the bed lights off but that's after a 15 minute wriggle around.

[sparkycat]

Our Deerhound split the end of his tail and I cured it by applying Anasol (hemroid cream) it is thick tastes horrible(apparently) and is an antiseptic

[BlackJaq]

Does he sleep on a bed inside his crate? Or just a bed on its own? And does he use his crate at all when it is just open and available or only when he is shut in?

What is his behaviour like in general in the house? Does he follow you around everywhere and is generally up and about the whole time or will he settle down on his own at some stage?

It might be an option to keep him crated inside for a while until he understands that inside = calm, as long as he still gets plenty of exercise outdoors

[Rebanne]

Yes, constantly wrapped (padded).

I wouldn't try and train the dog to not tail wag because you don't know if you're rewarding a change of mentality as well which the tail wag is associated with.

If your dog won't keep a wrapping on and the tail cannot heal then docking would be the next logical step.

This has been ongoing for months, I would be thinking of docking as well.

[Mudlark]

I just read about this product on another forum - Dog Ends. They are designed for tails that are bleeding at the end. My link

[Staff'n'Toller]

If it was constantly happening it would drive me bananas and I would dock it as well.

If I wasn't a vet nurse I'd probably be horrified at the suggestion but seriously, they are unaffected by the process after the initial surgery and I too would do a GSP style tail - would be so much better!

Edit: Getting a vet to agree to it is the hardest part...so that's already done if your vet suggested it! :)

Edited June 6, 2013 by Staff'n'Toller

[monique.c]

My friend has a Lab that he ended up having the dock the tail of.

Like your dog he would wag his tail all the time and be constantly splitting it. My friend was forever at the vet getting creams and antibiotics and wrapping it, doing everything he could to fix it. But eventually the vet said it would be best to dock it. I think they just took off the top third.

It was like he was completely unaware he had a tail and it didn't even bother him when he would split it and be bleeding everywhere.

He still wags his tail heaps now but doesn't hurt it anymore...

[TheCheekyMonster]

He actually frustrates me to tears sometimes because as a dog owner you try to do your best and you hate to see them bleeding or what should be painful, or when you just cant understand the behaviour or why its happening.

This is what happens when I go to greet him in the morning and afternoon, I open the laundry door, he will jump on top of Nala to get to me turn around in circles whack his tail everywhere and hop up and down on his front legs, he will either try to bolt through any gap to get through to the rest of the house or I will say toilet real quickly so he diverts to the back door to the yard so they can go out.

Afternoons, I come home Gus is at the kitchen window whining until I open the back door, he will then do the same as what he did in the morning except jump on me this time and then both dogs will proceed to play very roughly, only in my boyfriends and my presents do they play really rough and boisterous, I will give him as many pats as I can until my thighs and shins start to really hurt from the whacking I will then put them both in the laundry to calm down before letting them into the rest of the house. When I open the laundry door he will bolt through the kitchen and try to get into the hallway but I will call him back and close the laundry door so the space he has is limited (this time is usually when the most tail damage is done) I will ignore him and do what I have to do in the kitchen, wash dishes make dinner and he will sit on my feet and lean on the back of my legs and shake ever so lightly, I will give him a pat at this stage because I know this is as calm as he is going to get, we are always conscious to do things with minimal fuss and very calmly slowly and quietly but you know its annoying not being able to just walk around in your house without getting the dog excited, or talking without getting him excited and I have no idea why his like this.

[The Spotted Devil]

He can't whack his tail if he is sitting (or can he?)

I would be teaching a default sit for everything. Make it high value and teach him some impulse control. Inside the house is calm no matter how much energy he has. Zoomies are for outside only.

The other thing I teach is lots of rear end awareness - google perch work etc - I only need to touch Zig's flank gently and he walks his butt away from the wall. He barely needs reminding now.

[TheCheekyMonster]

He can't whack his tail if he is sitting (or can he?)

I would be teaching a default sit for everything. Make it high value and teach him some impulse control. Inside the house is calm no matter how much energy he has. Zoomies are for outside only.

The other thing I teach is lots of rear end awareness - google perch work etc - I only need to touch Zig's flank gently and he walks his butt away from the wall. He barely needs reminding now.

He can whack his tail in every position lol, I thought as well if he was in a sit surely he cant do damage, I was very wrong.... but the rear end awareness may be a good idea, I will do some reading on the perch work.