A Dogs Tail

[Nevafollo]

well might as well take his balls while his under .... I'll see what I can do before I really need to do that

Hi,

Pointers do this all the time........I had one which had the last joint removed, this still looked like a tipped tail......but didn't hinder her in the ring at all, she was a multi class in Group, Royal CC and Speciality winner.

One other dog I had that would continually whack the end of his tail and would then open it up and spray blood everywhere........I taped a hard plastic hair roller onto the end of his tail......this meant it wasn't enclosed in a moist bandage which made the skin soft.......he did try to chew the roller off, so I smeared chilli paste on it.......I had to to this for about 4 weeks but the tail healed well and I also stop the over the top greetings I would get when he came inside by teaching him to sit

Yes was going to say the same thing my pointer girl has a bald bit on her tail atm but it hasnt bled before.

Gus has had a few issues with his tail, it has split because he hits it on everything quite hard and its difficult to get him settled enough to not do the damage, any way the vet said we had 3 options, take it back to the healthiest vertebrea, graft the skin so it covers the piece thats missing or tape it up for three weeks and see how we go.... So I took the third option and it worked... until I took the bandaging off for more than 10 minutes... he had split it again....The force in which he whacks his tail against any object is crazy, its enough to give you bruises and I dont know how to change this.

So, my question is how does this effect him in the ring if we decide to take his tail back to the healthiest vertebrea?

Oh your poor boy . Being a breed that isn't normally docked I would think it may affect results.

But I can only share my experience with one of our girls who had a full tail. She had a split, open & bleeding tip of tail (about 10cm was affected) - after alot of battles with vets they removed the affected part of the tail as in their view it would heal up and she would be a happy dog again. Not the case - the shortened tail was worse than the full tail and we had a poor dog consistently in pain with an open bleeding tail and vets who just took forever to "do the right thing for the wellbeing of the dog" - eventually she was docked to normal length and she has never looked back. No trouble with it ever again and a happy happy dog :).

My point for you is that taking the tip off probably won't change him injuring his tail tip. I can only say - do the right thing for your dog (& I hope you can continue to show him).

I have seen somewhere a dobe person o/s made a brace for their dogs tail as it continuously damaged it as well - it went around the belly and then holds the tail down to level with the rear leg line.

I have a friend who had pointers years ago and she told me when my girl was going through this that they used to tape thumb thimbles to the tip of their dogs tails - tried that and no go with our girl but it would depend on the dog.

Best of luck with it.

Yes my show trainer did the brace thing with one of her dalls, the thing is im not home during the day, and because he is so accident prone I know that will cause some trouble.... man if only i could lock him up in cotton wool!!, or take him to work.... I long for a job where my dog can come with me... at the end of the day I need to teach him "Calm" I think that will reduce the issue by far... when he sees me of a morning and evening his a loose cannon... maybe a game of ball or tug before he comes in the house... I dont know but I feel for him!

Although Gus is a very nice looking Dal, I just dont think he was meant for showing... his too much of a free spirit and if I could compare him to a child his a mixture of the one climbing on rocks, grazing his knees and the asthma kid who is allergic to everything.. maybe this is just a puppy thing and he will grow out of it.... but i also dont want to disappoint his breeder and all those who see his potential!! gaa such a mind boggling decision.

This last bit, I have one like this and it all comes down to training he is my best show dog yet (hes a griffon, not pointer) he has AMAZING additude , its all about geting the additude and making it work for you not against you!!!. From what I have read of your posts hes only had 2 or 3 shows Keep at it, get help from people at shows, learn as much as you can. The difference in how handled and trained my first dog compared to what i do now when i get a new show dog is HUGELY difference

[TheCheekyMonster]

well might as well take his balls while his under .... I'll see what I can do before I really need to do that

Hi,

Pointers do this all the time........I had one which had the last joint removed, this still looked like a tipped tail......but didn't hinder her in the ring at all, she was a multi class in Group, Royal CC and Speciality winner.

One other dog I had that would continually whack the end of his tail and would then open it up and spray blood everywhere........I taped a hard plastic hair roller onto the end of his tail......this meant it wasn't enclosed in a moist bandage which made the skin soft.......he did try to chew the roller off, so I smeared chilli paste on it.......I had to to this for about 4 weeks but the tail healed well and I also stop the over the top greetings I would get when he came inside by teaching him to sit

Yes was going to say the same thing my pointer girl has a bald bit on her tail atm but it hasnt bled before.

Gus has had a few issues with his tail, it has split because he hits it on everything quite hard and its difficult to get him settled enough to not do the damage, any way the vet said we had 3 options, take it back to the healthiest vertebrea, graft the skin so it covers the piece thats missing or tape it up for three weeks and see how we go.... So I took the third option and it worked... until I took the bandaging off for more than 10 minutes... he had split it again....The force in which he whacks his tail against any object is crazy, its enough to give you bruises and I dont know how to change this.

So, my question is how does this effect him in the ring if we decide to take his tail back to the healthiest vertebrea?

Oh your poor boy . Being a breed that isn't normally docked I would think it may affect results.

But I can only share my experience with one of our girls who had a full tail. She had a split, open & bleeding tip of tail (about 10cm was affected) - after alot of battles with vets they removed the affected part of the tail as in their view it would heal up and she would be a happy dog again. Not the case - the shortened tail was worse than the full tail and we had a poor dog consistently in pain with an open bleeding tail and vets who just took forever to "do the right thing for the wellbeing of the dog" - eventually she was docked to normal length and she has never looked back. No trouble with it ever again and a happy happy dog :).

My point for you is that taking the tip off probably won't change him injuring his tail tip. I can only say - do the right thing for your dog (& I hope you can continue to show him).

I have seen somewhere a dobe person o/s made a brace for their dogs tail as it continuously damaged it as well - it went around the belly and then holds the tail down to level with the rear leg line.

I have a friend who had pointers years ago and she told me when my girl was going through this that they used to tape thumb thimbles to the tip of their dogs tails - tried that and no go with our girl but it would depend on the dog.

Best of luck with it.

Yes my show trainer did the brace thing with one of her dalls, the thing is im not home during the day, and because he is so accident prone I know that will cause some trouble.... man if only i could lock him up in cotton wool!!, or take him to work.... I long for a job where my dog can come with me... at the end of the day I need to teach him "Calm" I think that will reduce the issue by far... when he sees me of a morning and evening his a loose cannon... maybe a game of ball or tug before he comes in the house... I dont know but I feel for him!

Although Gus is a very nice looking Dal, I just dont think he was meant for showing... his too much of a free spirit and if I could compare him to a child his a mixture of the one climbing on rocks, grazing his knees and the asthma kid who is allergic to everything.. maybe this is just a puppy thing and he will grow out of it.... but i also dont want to disappoint his breeder and all those who see his potential!! gaa such a mind boggling decision.

This last bit, I have one like this and it all comes down to training he is my best show dog yet (hes a griffon, not pointer) he has AMAZING additude , its all about geting the additude and making it work for you not against you!!!. From what I have read of your posts hes only had 2 or 3 shows Keep at it, get help from people at shows, learn as much as you can. The difference in how handled and trained my first dog compared to what i do now when i get a new show dog is HUGELY difference

Thanks Nevafello, I guess I expect too much of myself and my dog too soon.... I'll see how this tail Saga goes, today we were trying some "calm" and spacial awareness.... he did ok :S haha it is going to be a long road ahead.

[Showpony]

Hi,

Something I forgot to add to my OP is, dont trim the end of the tail for showing........I keep the hair natural, which also helps to protect the tip.