Strange issue with my dog...and his tail

[CPA]

I have a Great Dane mix that has a tail that will knock you out if it hits you right. In any case, he wags his tail so hard that at times he will cut open the end of it on a sharp corner. Then, as he wags his tail blood gets sprayed all over the walls, doors and cabinets. I tried gauze and tape to give the tail time to heal, but he snuck off and tore the tape off after a few minutes. Now it's just a matter of time before he whacks his tail on something sharp again, the wound reopens and I'm spending my evening washing blood off my walls. Any suggestions?

 

[newnameman]

lol

 

[vi edit]

Uhh...dock it?

/PETA in 3....2....1.....

 

[Kreon]

I must admit, I have an image of a very happy excited dog bouncing up and down while spraying the wall with blood like a hose.

And it is funny.

In all seriousness, use more gauze and tape maybe? Maybe some duck tape? If he can reach around to chew it off, maybe cover that in some of the anti-nail biting stuff?

 

[skyking]

I've seen that before when I was training dogs, it is a real problem. I'd post questions on a Great Dane forum, let us know what you find out.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

He has HTD (happy tail disease). Sounds silly but, it's a real disease. There are different treatments from drugs to casting (even harder on furniture) to docking. Check with your vet.

 

[Kelvrick]

Cone of shame?

 

[CPA]

I've seen that before when I was training dogs, it is a real problem. I'd post questions on a Great Dane forum, let us know what you find out.

What's strange is that my full-blood Dane does not have this issue. In fact his tail swings low and in a narrow range.

The dane mix has a tale that has a mind of it's own. It just goes nuts and he doesn't care what he hits - furniture, cabinet corners, ballsacs (and believe me, it hurts when he hits you there).

 

[Gibsons]

Either docking or look into teflon furniture. Or all red furniture.

 

[Matthiasa]

Um just adopt the blood splattered look for your house.

 

[Jeff7]

So then......that's certainly a new one. Usually skin cuts trigger that whole pain response thing.

 

[datalink7]

I have a Great Dane mix that has a tail that will knock you out if it hits you right. In any case, he wags his tail so hard that at times he will cut open the end of it on a sharp corner. Then, as he wags his tail blood gets sprayed all over the walls, doors and cabinets. I tried gauze and tape to give the tail time to heal, but he snuck off and tore the tape off after a few minutes. Now it's just a matter of time before he whacks his tail on something sharp again, the wound reopens and I'm spending my evening washing blood off my walls. Any suggestions?

My dog does EXACTLY the same thing. Except he is a GSD with long hair so at first I didn't know where the blood was coming from. It was like someone murdered tinkerbell as there was little blood splatters all over the wall.

Finally figures it out but he won't allow anything to stay on his tail. Only thing I can really do is try to greet him in the middle of the room when I get home where he can't whack his tail on anything.

 

[vi edit]

So then......that's certainly a new one. Usually skin cuts trigger that whole pain response thing.

Dogs have a much different acceptance of pain. Usually happiness or food overpower anything but a truck hitting them.

 

[skyking]

http://allaboutgreatdanes.yuku.com/

 

[Zebo]

Cut it off. Duh. Will effect his balance for awile..not good for fighting but really it's common.

 

[DaTT]

I had an Irish Wolfhound many years ago, and he had the same issue. His tail was as hard as steel, and when he got excited, it would wag and just the sheer force from the impact on a wall would open it up. My kitchen looked like a slaughter house sometimes. We tried many things and the one that worked best was taping a long sock to his tail.

 

[AreaCode707]

Typical Dane issue. Our girl has a permanently scarred over tip of her tail due to smacking it when she was a youngin' (before we got her). My parents Dane, mostly white, usually has a few little red spots where she's scraped her tail.

Not much more you can do than what you're doing, and come up with some good massacre stories for your friends when they wonder what happened to your walls. You might try some liquid bandage stuff; it covers the wound like a skin and seems to work better on doggie cuts and scrapes than wrapped or taped bandages.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Skin-Antiseptic-Applications-0-3-Ounce-Packages/dp/B001GCTWY6

 

[destrekor]

Dogs have a much different acceptance of pain. Usually happiness or food overpower anything but a truck hitting them.

That's the animal way. Only in self-awareness do animals become little bitches. Except for dogs, where half are already little bitches, or big. But feisty ones.

 

[Cattlegod]

put an electric fence in your house and have it extend 1ft from all objects

 

[Zebo]

I don't think ghetto ponies have any pain receptors. I've seem them ripped to shreds and shot and still loving life.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I must admit, I have an image of a very happy excited dog bouncing up and down while spraying the wall with blood like a hose.

And it is funny.

LOL ya I was thinking the same.

My cat sometimes knocks stuff over with her tail (she wags it like a dog when she's happy), so I can only imagine a big happy dog.

But yeah hopefully you can somehow manage to fix that issue as it could get infected. I don't think dogs and cats really feel their tail either, so that's probably why he's not noticing.

My cat actually bites the end of her tail sometimes. She'll run around trying to catch it and eventually succeed. :awe:

 

[Sea Moose]

Cut the tail off the dog..... or the dog off the tail?

 

[Rufus12]

This happened to my dog, and this was the result.

 

[Leros]

I'm against docking, but it almost seems like a reasonable solution in this case.

 

[AreaCode707]

This happened to my dog, and this was the result.

*snip*

Whoa.


Yeah, the liquid bandage stuff does wonders, I tell ya.