dog chasing tail for hours

ameee

This might be completely normal but our six month old dog has developed a habit of chasing his tail for hours on end. He has been dewormed,deflead and has just had his six month check up with the vet. Other then the chasing his tail he is in great health he is just driving me nuts doing it He is walked twice a day,indoors when we are and out the back when we are,except he sleeps outside at night. He is a very high energy dog (collie cross) and at the weekend we bring him out and let him off the lead for a good long run around. Its probably not doing him any harm and I stop him doing it but I worry he does it for ages when Im out as Im not here to snap him out of it as he will do it for hours if let He is my first dog so I dont really know how normal it is?

Cú Giobach

Collie cross? Probably a very intelligent dog who is bored and not getting enough mental and physical stimulation, you say he gets a good run around once a week, a high energy dog needs that every day and that is particularly relevant to collies and collie x's.
Collies were bread to run from dawn to dusk and make serious use of their brains, so they don't do well with just an on lead walk "around the block" or being left alone for too long, I know you don't mention how long your daily walks are, but a stroll at human walking pace for a high energy dog would be like a top athlete trying to exercise by a slow stroll around the garden.
6 months old is also often when this behaviour starts, because the dog has grown up a bit and isn't finding everything new and exciting as a younger puppy would, and is hence getting bored with its surroundings, the tail chasing is then a combination of the collie's strong instinct to chase and a displacement activity to take its mind off its "stress".

Doing this for hours on end is not normal or healthy and you really should try your best to stop it with more hard exercise and mental stimulation, for the dogs sake. Think of a human sitting in cell slowly going crazy with boredom and rocking back and forward for hours on end, not exactly the same and not a great analogy, but not the worst either.

DBB

Hi OP,
It might be the above, ie a response to stress due to boredom, although you do walk him twice a day as well as the long weekend runs.
But before you go racing off to start exercising him more, there's a stronger chance that there's a medical basis for this, which you absolutely must investigate with your vet. I truly hope you've a good vet who knows how to deal with these things, as many just opt to amputate the tail, a ludicrous solution to the problem.
Your pup may have problems with his anal glands, spine, hips, there may be a neurological problem, or this behaviour may be a symptom of referred pain, which is a response to pain in a different part of the body than what seems.
Just because your pup seems healthy doesn't mean he is... Dogs are tremendously stoical about pain, and in my experience, tail chasing is far more often a behavioural response to a medical condition, which must be either identified or eliminated before you do anything else.

ABajaninCork

Once you've had the dog checked out by the vet (assuming all's well), how about bringing him to an agility class?

They're great for burning up excess energy and making new doggy friends for him.

Cú Giobach

OP, Here are a few questions that you might want to consider.

How long are your daily walks (be honest now) and does the dog lead you or do you lead the dog?
On his off lead runs do you interact with him, ie playing ball, fetch etc...or is he just left to do his own thing.
How much do you interact with him at home, not just petting but playing... etc
How often and for how long would he be left alone?
Does he show any anxiety before being put to bed at night outdoors.
Does he show anxiety at being left alone during the day eg, excessive digging, or destructive behaviour indoors, barking, whining or excessive panting as you leave...
How is his house-training, ever have any accidents when he is alone indoors.
Does he lick, chew or paw at any part of his body excessively or jump up suddenly for no apparent reason (ie not just at a noise you can't hear that gets his attention), or show discomfort or restlessness when trying to relax.
When you first noticed him chasing his tail (quite normal for a young pup to do) did you or others laugh and/or get excited.
Does he get anxious or nervous with new things or situations, that is would you consider him a nervous or confident dog.

I know that's a long list but those are things that need to be considered in your situation.
Answering them could possibly give an idea of what might be a "more likely than not" cause or causes.

Cows Go µ

Also, what food do you feed him? Some can cause hyperness

ameee

Thanks or all the replies I will try to answer them all. His morning walk is fifteen minutes as I have my three year old with me it will be half an hour when playschool starts tomoro, his evening walk is half an hour and most of these walks are spent with me being dragged at least half the time.He gets off the lead only at the weekend for about an hour to run around, during this time my son hits a tennis ball with his hurl to him the whole time and he fetches it he gets so worn out we have to drag him home most times. We only do this at the weekend as my partner is there as I would be a bit wary of letting him off when I am on my own with the children in case he ran off or got into a fight with another dog but again school will be starting so I might hazard a weekday on my own.

The only anxiety I have seen in him is that when he meets people and dogs outside although he jumps up and wags his tail he wees on them?

He was very destructive when locked in the kitchen at night which is why he must sleep outside at least until the weather gets cold then we shall have to rethink but he has no problem going out the back most warm days I leave the door open all day and he lies out in the sun for ages not bothering to come in .

I told him off when he did it as he was in the living room and kept knocking my daughter over.

He is never really left for long just school runs and shopping,he is left for four hours outside on a friday but thats the only day. He is fed pedigree puppy tins as well as scraps bones and raw meat I know there is better tinned food out there but the budget is quite stretched as it is .

The vet found no problem but did comment on him being quite disproportionate when trying to figure out his ideal weight so I do worry about that. I will be going back next month to have him neutered so Ill get him seen to again I would rather rule out everything else first so massive efforts will have to be put into occupying his mind Im sorry this is so long!

Cú Giobach

While you will have to have him checked out for underlying medical issues there are are a few things you can do that won't take "massive efforts".
Though one biggie is training (I'm guessing from your posts he's not trained too well, and I just mean the basics, not jumping through hoops or anything), I know you are a bit aware of money and with the kids time is obviously going to be tricky too, but training helps with much more than just "getting a dog to do what you want it to do" it helps give the dog itself a sense of purpose and control.
For example a 15 min walk with you leading will tire out a dog much more than 30 mins with it leading because it has to use its brain to focus on you and isn't just mentally flying all over the place.
The difference in a dog that has walked with its owner as opposed to one pulling its owner when the walk is over is hard to imagine until you see it yourself, sleeping like the proverbial baby even if the walk wasn't that long.
As with any social animal a dog is happiest when it knows exactly what its position and purpose within the group is, training is essential for this.
There is a lot of advice about the basics on-line, in books (some quite cheap) and youtube is full of training videos, if you can't afford actual classes or one to one.

Something to remember is that dogs don't need constant but they do need occational stimulation and quality interaction (not just petting), a five minute game of fetch in the garden or yard might seem like nothing to you, but would be a great break up of an otherwise uneventful couple of hours for a dog, a kong stuffed with something will also tax his brain for a while, as would a 5 minute training session.
Don't feel overwhelmed by the thought of occupying his mind, as I said it doesn't take much and interactions like training and playing will also bring the two of you closer together.

If you are going to distract him from tail chasing one thing to be very aware of, is not to inadvertantly reward the behaviour eg don't just call him over and give him a toy or treat to distract him. Distract him first with a noise, loud clap etc.....then have him come to you, then tell him sit and reward the sitting, just make sure every time he goes to chase the immediate result is not you doing something he likes, it's not that hard to do because it doesn't take a dog long to forget what it was doing when it starts focusing on something else.

P.S. don't worry about the weeing that is just submission, just have people ignore him for a while if they approach you to talk and always greet him calmly, and if he does it indoors to a visitor never ever scold him for it, his gaining confidence with age (and training) should see the end of that.

ameee

thanks for the advice I will definitely try to train him a bit more on the lead it has been hard while walking with my three year old might be easier when she starts preschool . I can get him to sit,lie down and give the paw and he stays as in if i open the front door or am in the garden he wont go more then a few feet away from me once I tell him not too.

Bit of an update I sat down to groom the cats and him as he is shedding a fair bit and I saw a pink streak on his tail, only a small bit of his tail is whte the rest is all black.
I moved his fur back and its a bit bloody its hard for me to tell how bad it is as he is quite long haired are it must be hurting because he wont let me near it, I literally had to sit on him to get any sort of look at it and he was giving me warning nips so I left it at that.

My partner will be home tonight so I will have him check it out as he is twice the size of me and much more at ease with the teeth end of a dog then I am

Going to see how it is and monitor it but Id say a vet trip is in order I hate to think of him in pain and now I am wondering was there an irritation that caused the circling or was it the other way around

Outkast_IRE

I own a collie so coming from a fellow owner, i can say they are very energetic dogs and intelligent.

I bring my collie on 5k runs with me ,which ends in a all out sprint with me racing her back to the house. This tides her over , but it just goes to show the levels of energy these dogs have.

The best thing i ever did was to teach the dog to play fetch with a ball, she sprints like a mad thing and would almost collapse with the tiredness after 10 mins or so.

If pulling is a problem i do reccomend a harness, i use the halti one and it works very well and the dog is comfortable with it on http://www.petshoponline.ie/index.php/halti-harness-stops-dog-pulling-on-lead

A game of fetch at the start of a walk would usually help tire the dog out and be less likely to pull.

Assassins Creed

ameee wrote: »

Bit of an update I sat down to groom the cats and him as he is shedding a fair bit and I saw a pink streak on his tail, only a small bit of his tail is whte the rest is all black.
I moved his fur back and its a bit bloody its hard for me to tell how bad it is as he is quite long haired are it must be hurting because he wont let me near it, I literally had to sit on him to get any sort of look at it and he was giving me warning nips so I left it at that.



Going to see how it is and monitor it but Id say a vet trip is in order I hate to think of him in pain and now I am wondering was there an irritation that caused the circling or was it the other way around

He has probably caused the damage to his tail by biting it. In any case whatever is the cause of his tail chasing, a trip to the vet would be advisable as he will only make it worse and its likely to get infected.
At six months old hes still very young and adventurous and while there can be medical reasons as explained above why dogs chase their tails, its possible hes just developed a satisfying way of expelling energy which developed into an irratation by nipping at it. Something that moves in the corner of his eye, he chases it and it moves away. Something to chase. Wonder does he chase his tail on weekends after his run when hes worn out ?. Ive had dogs that chased their tails like nuts and then just grew out of it. It can help to go out an throw a ball and play fetch to take the attention away from the tail. But definately have the tail looked at and any possible medical reasons ruled out, now that its inflamed.
Very interested in finding out how you get on.

In relation to him destroying the house when hes left in overnight, crate training is a great remedy for this.

Vince32

You can use Tea Tree Oil or cream on the dogs sore tail, it will expel any dirt and minor infection, it works great on all skin types and irritations with no side effects, and because of it's pungent smell and taste the dog won't want to go anywhere near it's tail, could help break the habit ?!

Then you two need to decide how to blow off all that steam, an extra walk perhaps? or maybe cycling, but however you do it, you should bear in mind, bored dogs are the most destructive, so training gets a big +1, and splash out a few quid on some quiet toys.

Sometimes I sit on my couch watching TV with a handful of treats, and telling the dog to sit, or high5 for treat, keeps her entertained and the legs attached to the tables.

Anyway I'm sure it's not as bad as all that, google is your friend, ask it questions and it will show you what you need to know.

Vince32

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sandra06

i have one of these dogs there mad things .i give her tesco select cuts and dry food ,i found pred chum was giving her the runs ,i tried walking her 5 or 6 times a day and she was still mad as a march hair ,so now i only walk her twice a day and let her out the back which is very big area ,and all the local kids come in and play ball with her ,at night time she inside and then we play with her for hours just throwing a ball for her to fetch ,she wont go out in the dark i thing she afraid ,she barks if we leave her alone at night in kitchen so we let her sleep under daughters bed ,she gets very excited if some one new comes near her jumping all over them and i know they pee when excited ,there just really friendly and love company useless guard dog unless u want burglairs to be licked to death ,if u can mop an area of floor with watered down bleach they normally just pee there thats what we done when training her ,she 11 mths old now and she can hold it overnight till morning good lusk with urs

Assassins Creed

Vince32 wrote: »

You can use Tea Tree Oil or cream on the dogs sore tail, it will expel any dirt and minor infection, it works great on all skin types and irritations with no side effects, and because of it's pungent smell and taste the dog won't want to go anywhere near it's tail, could help break the habit ?.

Tea tree oil on broken skin can hurt like hell. Yes its advertised as a remedy for clearing infection. But i wouldnt go putting it on open pores or cuts.

JustAThought

A walk on a lead for 15 minutes in the morning at a toddlers pace followed by a day of no walks & nothing " new" , and a half hour lead walk in the evening is really totally inaqequate for your pets breed needs.

Aside from the good suggestion of a trip to the vets ( & NO Teatree on open pores/wounds the pain !!) I would suggest that you really have-to let your dogrun & exercise off lead: EVERY day. Can you build it into your routine ; or if a place to run the dog is too far to msnagable walk with pram/toddler drive there; let the dog run & then drive back ; you won't loose too much of your day & frustration of being pulled there & back at snails pace.


I play fetch in the house in the mornings with the dog ; I don't have to get out of PJs , be groomed etc ... Gets the dog off to a happy start & it's a slow throw while she sits or a Slow " catch" in the air ; 10 minutes, the breakfast or vice-versa! Not a huge effort but a big thing for fido!


Your dog sounds really lovely & eager to learn & that you're trying hard with him/her! On paper all that you re doing looks good but with the exception of the off lead runs & the fact that your type of dog needs huge running exercise!! That's what they were built for & need to be allowed to do ( a bit of!)

Timing ! I also have a high energy dog & if I don't RUN her by mid morning ; eleven at the latest; her energy seems to become unmanageable & no matter how long I let her run in the afternoon it just can't bridge that morning gap . I have to run her double the time in the afternoon. Try running your dog off lead when the kids are at school & you can focus on the dog exclusively and get a bit of recall training into this time too ( your dog sounds really smart & trainable!!) sausages are a big help with this!!! ( or whatever your dog really loves!)

You mentioned your other son & ball/Hurley games ...sounds great. Is there any room in your routine for a bit of this before breakfast? Maybe your dog would like/likes to play hide & seek the person/ball/treat? Mineloves it witha stick or food & this is an easy indoor game that you/your son can play in your Pjs ( before school!!) or uniform without getting messy. Put the dog in 1 room, hide something , get him to find it; reward, repeat!!! I now hide30 or so tiny treats ( it comes out if his daily dogfood allowance) & mine sniffs them out from around the room ; I play this 2 or 3 times & she LOVES it and it tires her out!!! Easy, indoors & you can have a cup of tea while the dog sniffs them out!

Maybe your dog would prefer to find & " herd" balls into a particular place in the room ; bring them to you or drop them into a bin/box. I taught mine to bring me shoes from the door... Can't leave a shoe down now without it being " fetched!!

Might help!!!
Definitely a vet check , maybe a different vet if the last visit didn't particularly being anything useful up. And DO NOT let a vet amputate your dogs tail ; I was HORrIFIED when I read that & nearly sick. Medieval quackery.

angeldaisy

My collie cross will be 11 this year and he still loves a game of fetch - I use the ball thrower and he has great fun and it tires him out. Luckily where we live he can roam the fields at the back of the house where he loves to chase scents.
Also you will need to keep their minds occupied, even now we are teaching him new stuff - had to teach him to roll over so I could check his tummy after an op, he is asked to sit and give paw before he gets a treat, he gives a different paw depending on which hand you offer him:)
They're brilliant company and very loyal - mines also a great guard dog - he barks very aggressively at anyone walking by his territory although it soon descends into manic licking if they come near especially if I give him the okay.
They really are incredibly intelligent dogs and if you put in the time and effort in you will be so rewarded.

ameee

Thanks for all the replys

I have been putting more time and effort in with the dog and if Im really honest he may have moved down the list of priorities with the kids being on summer holiday there just never seems to be enough hours in the day but back to normal tomoro

He has been doing better for the time and attention he is getting and I will be giving him a few extra runs off the lead now I will have a free hour each day. I am a bit wary of other dogs approaching us but chewy reacts great so nothing ever goes wrong so Ill have to be brave

He is still chasing his tail but I am trying to break the habit and he is getting neutered soon so Im hoping having the collar thing on will help break the habit.We are going away for three nights next week so Ill book him in when we come back. The wound seems to be clearing up on its own nicely but Ill have the vet check it too.

Ailishcrehan

JustAThought wrote: »

I play fetch in the house in the mornings with the dog ; I don't have to get out of PJs , be groomed etc ... Gets the dog off to a happy start & it's a slow throw while she sits or a Slow " catch" in the air ; 10 minutes, the breakfast or vice-versa! Not a huge effort but a big thing for fido!

Agree with pretty much everything said (excluding the tea tree on open wound)

worth noting - its never a good idea to play fetch/exercise your pet after it has eaten as it can cause a twisted gut!