tail? - Page 1

Dear list members, I have a dog and I want to participate to sieger show. IMO my dog has V structure excluding her tail. there is a little curl at the and of her tail. How effect this situation at the show? tail is so important for show or Kkl? Best regards and happy new year Igor

Hi sweetie! I had a tail question, but not the same as yours. But, I find you and I have something in common. I too have a female with the same crink/curl in her tail. I spayed her for alot of different reasons but not because of that crink. Some people pound on me for having spayed this more than adequate driven highlines dog with exceptional courage and temperament today. The tail may be a fault. But the overall dog has to be judged. Plus, she is so sound, healthy, animated, expressive and eager to work. The dog that really could have put that power into pups. Boy were we dumbies! Don't get caught up in the small things. This girl is still so fit and healthy today. No hip/elbow probs despite the awful beginning she had. Inherant good temperament. She would have run in the back of the ring. But would have contributed to the breed with her power. Hard to explain. But when you have one of these dogs, you know it. Smartest dog I ever had.

Dear Layla, Thanks for reply

How old is your female? I have a female who had this tight curl and I was worried, I think she probably lost one or two places in a couple of shows for this. But with time the curl has become much less and isn't really an issue now. She has always done really well in shows.

Dear Oso, My female is only 5 months old. I hope it will be good. There is a little curl at the end of tail that looks to right side. I curious that how effect this state in the show. And of course Kkl. What about breeding? Regards and happy new year, Igor

Igor, my female has her kkl class 1. Curled tails are inherited I believe, but I don't think its such a serious fault to worry about unduly. She might just lose a place to a female of equal quality with a good tail, but if all other aspects of your female are better she will win anyway. My female was judged by several judges of different nationalities, always with good positions and only one judge commented on her tail. What we noted was that as a puppy her tail was very long, when she was about 8 months old we clipped some of the hair at the end of the tail so it did not touch the ground. There were no dramatic results at first but over time the curl has loosened, and now looks normal, but this happened well after a year old. Not sure if this was related to cutting the hair, or just happened anyway. I think your dog is very young there is a good chance that the tail will normalise. Good luck!

Dear Tail people, I had a GSD with a slight curl - and found that when I trimmed the hairs right away when small and always kept them trimmed - no problem. Just an idea -

I always make sure I trim the hairs at the end of the tail if it touches the ground as a puppy, this really does seem to help.