Strange Black Tail Spot - Page 1

My now 12 weeks old puppy Sam has a strange black spot on his tail that keeps changing. At first it was a small black spot and then slowly grew bigger, and now it's a black band ring. The hair under the black is turning pure white and feels really course. Should I be worried and take him to a my vet? He also seems to like chewing on it. Could it be from a trama caused at birth? You can see the black band in his most recent photo on his pedigree page: www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/625199.html

This is a close up at 8 weeks old of the spot:

 


At 10 weeks old:


And now at 12 weeks old:


You can see the white starting to show in this photo.

Coat is changing, you can expect many strange changes before adult coat comes in.  Black guard hair will ususall form a stipe down the back before covering the sides.  Tails may have "V" of black as adult guard hairs are coming in.  I've seen the same thing many times before, nothing to worry about.

THAT is interesting...I recently read that all wolves and wolf hybrids have that! Apparently it's some vestigial scent gland!

"Wolves use smell to identify members of their own pack. Wolves have several specialized scent glands on their body: two anal glands located just inside the anus, another gland located just outside the anus, a gland called the precaudal gland which is on the tail about two inches from the base on the top of the tail, several scent glands located in the paw pads, and scent glands on their faces. These glands are used for marking purposes as well as identification purposes. By smelling the uro-anal region, one wolf can clearly determine who another wolf is by using chemical cues excreted from the wolf's tail glands."

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:KBXsYpVJOpgJ:canis-lupus.org/wolves.php%3Fcommunication+scent+gland+wolf+tail&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari 

Or look here! Scroll down near the bottom....(I'm learning a lot more about wolves than I ever meant to!!!)
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.runningwiththewolves.org/images/tail-markings.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.runningwiththewolves.org/Anatomy.htm&usg=__40lydBrIBJ2sEv29xHxWVWTpunY=&h=124&w=417&sz=16&hl=en&start=16&sig2=DbBFU-8YoAp9cIOTsg0GOg&um=1&tbnid=2ZX-ldSeSqG4PM:&tbnh=37&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dscent%2Bgland%2Bwolf%2Btail%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=Vq_kSv2rL5bWtQOv7-jODA

By the way, although my wolf hybrid doesn't have that fur mark, I can feel what feels like a small coin under the skin in that spot.

Sam is a purebred German Shepherd Dog. He has no wolf in him at all. His tail has also turned silver while the rest of him is turning red sable. I've never heard of a red sable with a silver tail either. And the white hair is under the black but  some of the black is turning white. And the spot is not a spot anymore but a band that fully wraps around the tail. His tail kinda looks like a raccoon's now. 

My sable male had the same "V" before his adult coat came in, but it was gone when the guard hairs covered the tail. I've also seen it on at least three other pups. It's interesting about this mark remaining on a wolf's tail into adulthood but I doubt it will remain on this pup. I never knew that much about wolves, interesting reading. What was even more surprising was what is not known, I would've thought research into some aspects of sight and hearing would have been more thorough, the range between 25 to 80 kHz is quite wide and color reception is still not definitely known.  Very interesting reading, thanks for the link!

All sable puppies go through many color changes as they grow.  They wil also have different shades durning the season changes.  A lot of them have the v black on the tail it it very normal.  This is a indication of their adult coming in.  I wouldn't worry about the white because it may go away as he grows up. 

Now for the chewing is it constant or just normal puppy chewing?

Oh no, I don't mean to imply that the puppy isn't pure GSD; I merely mean that I wouldn't be surprised if the mark originates in some really old DNA because we know that ALL dogs are related to wolves. I was just commenting that I wonder if that might be where such marks harken back to. Just making conversation! 

My black-and-red, GSD, SL males have all had this mark on their tails as puppies. This is simply a vestigial oil gland--not dissimilar to the avian preen gland--IMO.

Thank you for that information I have never heard of a scent gland on the tail before. 

Almost all puppies look just as yours does when they are getting their new coat coming through, nothing to worry about.