Hi everyone

We are really hoping someone out there may be able to help us. Kohl is a beautiful 9 month old german shepherd much loved by all of us.
Until about a month ago he was the perfect family pet, even temperament, awesome with the kids.
Then he started chasing his tail and does it incessantly, we have tried changing his diet, having a behavioural trainer from Dog-tech come out, taking him for two hour walks twice a day but nothing is really seeming to help.
We are really at the end of our tether as the vets say that there is nothing else we can do and that we should euthanise him.
We would REALLY like to avoid that if we could.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions?? We would really appreciate it.

Alex, Claire all the rugrats & Kohl

Hi Alex & co,

I don't think it's fair to euthanise a dog for chasing its own tail. My dog does that sometimes, but how often does Kohl chase his tail?

You might like to try smothering his tail in something unpleasant, eg. lemon juice, or any liquid you know he absolutely hates. This will hopefully wean him off his own tail.

And if that doesn't work, you may want to consider docking his tail.

If it was only a minor problem, we wouldnt even consider it. He's chasing it to the point where the kids are now scared of him, he's bitten my calf two or three times by accident.
He chases his tail in preference to having a fresh juicy bone or playing with his ball.

I wonder what made the very sudden problem. As I suggested earlier, try smothering his tail in something revolting to him...I find something very sour such as lemon juice works for my dog.

Or docking his tail. Sounds cruel and unnatural, but he does get to live and it's the best thing to do.

Hi Alex and Claire,
Jan Fennells book has some sugestions about tail chasing, in her book she says the dog is stressed, and thinks it has to be the alpha male and if the dog is not a dominant dog then it is all a bit much, a friend had this problem when a family moved in with them while house was being reparied and there 4 yr old German sheperd started to chase her tail,she felt she had to take care of the children who were staying with her and suddenly started to chase her tail.So if you havnt read might be worth a try.
Good luck Jackie and Zorro

Dont euthanise this dog. Place it for adoption with GSD rescue. Change vet for s second opinion. Sedation and other drug therapy may wirk , any one think it might be itchy or nerve damaged thats why he chases it, sensitivity to fleas etc?
If you cant handle it offer the dog to someone more expereinced. Killing the poor thing is a cop out.


Swampthing

We dont intend giving him up for adoption, and its not a matter of being an experienced owner. I have had 4 previous german sherpherds and a number of other dogs.
Thanks for your imput tho.

Scooby chases his tail when he is exceited, like when we are getting ready to take him out for a walk or a ride in the car. He also does it when he needs a walk, so I would suggest increasing your dogs exercise it might help. We have also trained Scooby to stop when we say enough.

We have had a couple of dogs through rescue that chased their tail Dudley was one of them. The reason for him was long confinement and no other stimulation. Obviously that is not the case in your guy. Another was because he had a pinched nerve at the base of his tail, when he got in certain positions he obviously hurt and he was trying to get at what was hurting it. He was given some anti-inflammatory medication (we found a slight swelling in his tail so perhaps had been injured) and that reduced his tail chasing dramatically within a couple of days.

Have you check really thoroughly for any signs of swelling or tender spots, working down from just above where his tail attaches and down towards the curl to see if he reacts to pressure. At 9 months he is still growing and I certainly wouldn't euthanise him for doing it. If it was my dog I would have a spine xray taken to check his growing is coming on properly and his joint spaces are not compressed, ie. rule out a structural reason. Do you know of his background, whether his parents were hip scored and what their results were. As it has suddenly started there has to be a logical reason if boredome, confinement are not a factor and it certainly sounds like those two reasons are ruled out.

Another thought is have you checked his anal glands, that he is not impacted and painful.

Sometimes adolescent dogs suddenly do this and just as suddenly as they start they stop My concern would rise if he starts attacking his tail and injuring himself. Has it got that bad. Antianxiety medications are prescribed in compulsive long term tail chasing.

I also meant to ask how you react when he does this behaviour. The more attention he gets when he does it, whether negative or positive, it is still attention, the harder it will be to stop it.

Does he know the down command or sit command. Just a thought but if he does know those commands when you see him start to chase his tail get him to either 'down' or 'sit' and praise like heck for THAT behaviour.

Worth a try perhaps, if he doesn't know down or sit, a good reason to start teaching him. Give him something else to think about. It is very hard for a dog to chase it's tail in the down position.