How your dog wags its tail tells so much about how it feels.
When the tail wags like a helicopter rotor blade it usually means pure joy. Tails held up high and stiff and wagging back and forth like a metronome typically show agitation.
Submissive or fearful dogs hold their tails tucked under their bodies.
Fearful dogs that hold their tails beneath their bodies but have dilated pupils, heads dropped down and ears held back may loose their bite inhibition. These dogs may be “fear biters” and snap with little or no provocation.
Wency Elaine, a Santa Barbara trainer/behaviorist, and Los Angeles veterinarian Karen Sueda, a past board president of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, advise not to assume that a dog that you are not familiar with is happy when its tail is wagging. The dog may try to bite you, despite having a wagging tail.
All of the dog’s body language should be read together. Body language signs include general posture, raised hackles (hair on back raised up), look in eyes, position of ears, shaking head and showing teeth, to name a few.
A dog’s tail tells the veterinarian much more about the dog than just its mood. A limp tail, known as a “swimmer’s tail,” is seen most frequently here in Santa Barbara in dogs that love to swim.
The base of the tail is often slightly swollen, painful and may hurt when the dog sits. The tail suddenly becomes flaccid, just hanging down.
This condition is caused by the tail muscles being strained by too much exertion, such as having way too much fun swimming, swimming in very cold water or wagging excessively. The tail also can be injured if the dog is left in a crate that is too small for a prolonged period of time.
Your veterinarian will examine and possibly take an X-ray to rule out a tail fracture. With rest and anti-inflammatory medication your pal should recover just fine, but be aware it can reoccur with overuse.
Your dogs’ tail can be broken. Broken tails don’t wag, hurt when you touch them, typically are swollen and/or bruised, or there may be a wound, a knot in the tail or the tail is crooked. Your veterinarian will take an X-ray to determine if this is what is wrong your dogs’ tail.
If the tail is fractured, the location will determine the treatment plan and recovery.
Most mild fractures of the tip of the tail can heal independently but may leave a permanent bump. Fractures near or at the base of the tail or crushing injuries may not heal, and may cause nerve damage and could require tail amputation.
Dogs can break their tails by being closed in a door (even a car door) by accident, falling off a deck or even a high bed and landing on their tail, being hit by a car, or having their tail stepped on.
“Happy tail” is a misnomer, but occurs in some of our pals that wag their tails all the time. While constantly wagging, these dogs often hit their tails over and over on firm objects such as furniture, walls or fences, creating a painful superficial or deep wound.
A superficial wound, treated by your veterinarian, should heal. A deep wound may not heal.
This happened to my dog, Valor, while I was in veterinarian college. No matter how many times Valor’s tail was treated and bandaged, it would not heal.
One of my first surgeries was assisting the head surgeon at Washington State University to partially amputate Valor’s tail. This was one of my least favorite surgeries but it solved his problem.
Valor was a Dalmatian so his shorter tail looked funny, but it gave him character, and he could keep on wagging without pain or injury. This was truly a happy dog with a happy tail.
Surgery is done for “happy tail” only if there is a nonhealing, chronic wound. Valor lived 17 years as a happy, somewhat bob-tailed Dalmatian.
Tails also get masses. Your veterinarian can aspirate the mass and diagnose if it is benign or cancerous to determine if it needs to be surgically removed.
You can cause irreparable damage to your dog’s tail by pulling it too hard. Tail pull injuries can cause damage to nerves in the spinal cord that control urination and defecation.
If these nerves are damaged, your dog could possibly become incontinent. With time, nerve function may return but some dogs remain unable to control their bladder or bowels.
Nerve damage may also cause the tail to hang limply. Your dog may not be able to wag its tail or even raise it when having a bowel movement. Skin infections may be a secondary problem with limp tails.
If your dog has to have its tail shortened due to an injury or growth, it will still look in a mirror and think “I am well beyond breed standards and looking good.” This also applies to our mixed breed pals.