Reptile & Amphibian Forums

"Dobes are not the right dogs for me, but yes, I like my dogs to have tails. I would NEVER play "get your tail" with a dog, though. Dogs who become obsessed with chasing and biting at their tails often wind up in very tragic situations, including the necessity of amputating the tail. This happens in German Shepherds. Don't play that game with a dog!"

I just read this on the dobe board.. This is common to GSDs? What should I be watching for? It caught my eye because Kaiser chases his tail all the time.. We don't encourage it but have laughed at it occasionally.. I've never heard of it causing injuries. Should I physically stop him from doing it and distract him with something else, or just stop laughing at it and thereby reinforcing it?

My best guess: both. Ignore it completely unless it seems to be getting obsessive, at which point play his favorite game for a while until he he forgets about it. 'Fetch' always worked with my mini-schnauzer. Lord, he loved that game! For instance, if he got too busy roughing up the cat, I would just say, 'Go get yer ball!' and he'd drop everything and go and find his ball.

HIH d

>>"Dobes are not the right dogs for me, but yes, I like my dogs to have tails. I would NEVER play "get your tail" with a dog, though. Dogs who become obsessed with chasing and biting at their tails often wind up in very tragic situations, including the necessity of amputating the tail. This happens in German Shepherds. Don't play that game with a dog!"
>>
>>I just read this on the dobe board.. This is common to GSDs? What should I be watching for? It caught my eye because Kaiser chases his tail all the time.. We don't encourage it but have laughed at it occasionally.. I've never heard of it causing injuries. Should I physically stop him from doing it and distract him with something else, or just stop laughing at it and thereby reinforcing it?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes, interrupt that behavior NOW. No more laughing at it, because that is approval that many dogs will work for. Distract him into another activity, yes. What happens is they start biting the tail and you get blood gushing all around the room as they spin, plus horrible damage to the tail that never heals because they are obsessed with the behavior and can't stop. Sometimes it ends by having the tail amputated.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Will do, thank you..

My aunt had a black lab once that somehow go a cut on the end of her tail.. I don't remember how but the bandages the vet put on would not stay put (this was a long, long time ago.. maybe they didn't have glue yet or something), I guess because she was such a persistent wagger.. She would run through their beautiful clean house wagging and spraying blood all over the place, it was awful.

She wasn't a tail chaser but that was bad enough with just a little cut.. I can't imagine having to deal with a situation like that.

We will definitely put an end to it..

I am in the same boat you are, Leah. Cookie LOVES to chase her tail. She doesn't do it as much as she was, but she still does it a lot. I saw a dog once that was constantly stressed because he always thought his legs and tails were going to steel his food and toys! While he was eating, he wouold periodically stop and growl and snap and his tail and legs! Very disturbing behavior.

I've just read this! I thought it was normal for dogs to chase their tails and Echo does it alot!
I'll be putting a stop to it straight away!

stress induced.