Tail chasing

Luckily Ive never had a dog do this, I would be worried as it can start small and escalate to mutilations.

Ive always thought of it as boredom led or over excitement which then dosnt find an outlet. I know quite a few long term rescues do it purely for the above reasons.

I dont know what studies have been done and compared in a similar type behaviour of big cats and bears that pace up and down the fence line in zoos. I would imagine it all points to an animal under stress and learning this behaviour helps dissiapate it.
 
I've never had one myself but the two GSDs I did know who did it, both females, were PTS it got so bad.
A male who did it (not a GSD) ended up nailing someone very badly and was also PTS.
I have had a fence-runner which is a similar obsessive/nervous thing and it was a nightmare, not a happy bunny in the head :( there was genuinely no way of stopping her and I could not have exercised or stimulated her more.
 
I think sometimes a chemical imbalance in the brain and a predispotition to it is responsible. It did say that in certain breeds of dogs it was more common so whatever any owner did they couldnt overcome it although certain vitamins did help in some cases.

I think its like a lot of things its the luck of the draw, Im certainly not patting myself on the back because Ive never had a dog do it although In minor cases with other causes it can Im sure be corrected. A full blown case must be horrible to witness and deal with, as with OCD in humans there are different types of severity.
 
Havnt read article as my phone didn't allow it.
My young lab has a very long tail- weird! Every now and then he will obviously catch sight of his tail and he will try and catch it for about 2 mins realise he can't and stops.
We ignore him or tell him to stop, but he doesn't do it for stress or boredom. He thinks its a toy, he is stupid!
 
Its a no no to me! I recall there was a GSD stud dog who did seem to produce offspring with a tendency to do this, and in some cases they nearly destroyed their tails. Pups will occasionally catch sight of their tail and have a chew but it is something I nip in the bud very quickly.
 
I've also heard of dogs that have been PTS from doing it. We discourage the pups from doing it and colleague says it's a bit of a drug for them and they can become so obsessive with chasing their tails you can't do anything to stop it. Funnily enough a friend also knew a GSD that would just simply chase its tail continuously in the corner of a room!
 
I had a rescue springer years ago that would tail and shadow chase. Was not afraid of loud noises; he was potentially a very good working dog, but it could never totally switch off or really relax. It didn't matter whether he was in the kennel or in the house, he would then revert to tail/shadow chasing, regardless of how much exercise or stimulation he had received during the day.

In the end he was pts as he was constantly ending up in a state of utter exhaustion.
 
dizzydancer said:
Havnt read article as my phone didn't allow it.
My young lab has a very long tail- weird! Every now and then he will obviously catch sight of his tail and he will try and catch it for about 2 mins realise he can't and stops.
We ignore him or tell him to stop, but he doesn't do it for stress or boredom. He thinks its a toy, he is stupid!
Click to expand...

This is exactly what our 10 month old Lab X does. I don't think it's OCD, it's just being an easily excited puppy!
 
If a pup has a playful chase of its tail and then gives up then I wouldn't bother. The dogs that concern me (and I have seen them) are adults that chase their tails almost constantly, so their tails are chewed to the bone. It is because I have seen how tail chasing can develop that I would distract a pup from doing it before it becomes a habit.
 
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