8 month old GSD with a 'crooked' tail - Page 2

The technical term for a crooked or bent tail is ANKYLOSIS.

If a dog carries it's tail up with a crook because the tail is too long, I have heard that trimming the tail at the bottom so it will not drag on the ground will allow the dog to relax the crook in it's tail. I have not had any first hand experience with this, however. My girl will crook her tail up when she's excited, but carries it down the rest of the time. Hope this helps. jackie harris

I'm editing to say trim the HAIR at the end of the tail, not the tail itsself! jh

Denny, a pup out of my D litter has a kink in his tail and his owner says it makes him a super star! He swears any dog with a kink in its tail is bound for great things. I hope yours is too.

JoAnn

fomcdf,

first of all welcome to the pedigree data base,  we have many people on the board that have English as a second language and for me your post was very clear and I fully understand what you are saying.

As for your puppy with a slight crook in it's tail, I would trim the hair at the end of the tail to reduce the need for him to pick it off the ground.

I also have a female GSD who as a puppy started to twist her tail and I also worried about it and started to trim the hair at the end of her tail every few weeks and she just stopped twisting her tail.

I AM SO GLAD THAT SOMEONE POSTED THIS QUESTION AS I HAVE A TEN MONTH OLD MALE THAT CARRIES THE END OF HIS TAIL THIS WAY ALSO. I AM WILLING TO TRY THE TAIL HAIR TRIMMING TO SEE IF IT WORKS. THANKS GUYS

Haha it seems that my German Shepherd and I are not the only one who had this situation? ^ ^ Just one more question, about trimming the hair? Is it about cutting the tail's ending hair or just trimming it? As a non-native English speaker, I dont really understand the meaning of the word 'trim'. I looked for it in the dictionary and the meaning is kind of to make the tail less hair than before. Is that right?

To be clearer, my German Shepherd's tail is just crooked to the left side. Is trimming the hair a possible solution?

Cut the hairs to the point that they do not touch the ground when the dog is standing at ease. Otherwise the dog can feel when the hairs are touching the ground and tries to prevent it, by lifting and bending the tail. You won't know if it works until you try it. Good luck, and yes others have been surprised when this works.

Here is how you fix a crooked tail or really any exterior (and other) problem on a dog you owe.

You love him as much as he does love you. That will stop you to care about his/hers faults same as he/she does not care about yours.

Take care.

Hans

Just wondering - has anyone tried botox for something like this?