Bleeding Tail

[horseshoes]

My son has a beautiful, boisterous springador who wags his tail with such force that he's forever bashing furniture, walls, doors, trees and people. Consequently he has done something to the end of his tail and when it bleeds it actually sprays as it wags. At the moment he has cream for it. I was wondering if any of you have seen this problem before. Do dogs still have their tails docked? I'd appreciate any advice. Thank you.

[woofgang]

A common end to this sad set up is that the dog does get his tail docked under GA by a vet. Did the vet give you the cream? If he did then go back and talk about the problem.

[horseshoes]

I feared as much woofgang. I do believe the cream is from the vet. (Not my dog, my son's) I'm sure he'll go back to the vet now he's seen the cream doesn't really solve the problem. Thank you.

[chrissa1]

Our old Lab, Charlie used to wag his tail so hard, he could clear a coffee table. The end of his tail could be seen through the hair and he had a bald spot on his tail, halfway up.
Occasionally, we would notice small marks of blood on the walls. It never bothered him and we never did anything about it. Docking seems rather drastic, in my view.

[woofgang]

depends on the size of the injury and the amount of blood Chrissa. small marks of blood are different from a spray when it wags.
horseshoes, i don't mean to be rude in the next bit.
Its a problem with spaniels and spaniel crosses because spaniels have been bred to have very very waggy tails indeed but because the tails were docked, nobody worried about making sure that the tails were robust. This means that undocked dogs and crosses are at risk of tail injuries which don't tend to heal.
I am very much not pro docking myself.....just stating the facts.

[chrissa1]

True, true woofgang.

My parents had Springers in the 50's through to the 80's and all the pups they bought were docked. Back then, that was the norm and I still think Springers look, "not quite right" even now. But, there you go.

[horseshoes]

Woof, I didn't take you as being rude at all:-) its been very interesting to hear views on this, and I'll certainly pass it on. Barney is SUCH a happy dog, and shows this in the amount of tail wagging. It would be awful if this tail problem caused any suffering. Thank again.

[lankeela]

Thinking outside the box here, although the wagging is giving the tail some trauma it has been found with some high protein foods that the dog wasn't utilising the protein and it had to find a way out of the system, and the tail has the thinnest skin on the dog so often the tail would bleed. Check his food and see if its too high in protein for a dog that is not working all day (as these breeds are bred to do). We used to get this with greyhounds in the kennels if they were laid off from racing for any length of time.

[lankeela]

Not wishing to get into the docking debate yet again this is one of the problems of not docking dogs that have a lively tail action when working - whether or not this is because they have been docked for so many years that nothing has been done to improve the situation, i.e. they probably would not have noticed it if they were docked, so didn't need to worry about it, I am not sure but if they had kept their tails in the first place I am sure the situation would have improved by now by selective breeding for better tail management. There are so many that have to have their tails docked as adults that it makes you question whether the docking laws should ever have been brought in. The dogs docked as puppies don't have a problem and it is far less traumatic for them to be docked at less than three days old than as adults.

[horseshoes]

Thank you Lankeela. Very interesting about the food. I THINK, although I'm not certain, that I've seen Bakers Complete there. Again I shall pass all this info on. Barney is still quite young. Is it VERY painful or stressful to the dog to have to have their tail docked? I don't know anything about dogs I'm afraid, although I do like them, but we have always been cat people.

[lankeela]

It is not at all stressful if they are pups under three days old. Most don't even notice it being done. It is also far less traumatic for them than the pain involved with tail constantly opening up or having to be removed under general anaesthetic. Think how many thousands of dogs had their tails docked prior to the ban on anything other than working dogs. You only have to watch the programmes about the sniffer dogs most of which are spaniel types to see how waggy their docked tails are.

[neodarwinian]

Try bandaging the tail for awhile first. Have the vet do this as they have special " happy tail " coverings.

At the shelter I volunteer at there are dogs that will not stop hurting themselves this way and have been docked as a result of this behavior.

Still, one behavior can sometimes be substituted for another in these cases, though in your case it would require much effort to " sidetrack " this dog with another behavior.

Agility training perhaps?

[lankeela]

Re the Bakers - read the reviews!:

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0012/bakers-complete-adult