Tail chasing in dogs may be indicative of medical, psychological, and environmental causes, and sometimes even learned factors may be at play.
With proper maintenance of your dog's health and diet, you can enjoy watching your pet engage in the
occasional tail chase without worry.
Dogs can develop obsessive behaviors, such
as tail chasing, which may need to be treated with medications.
Citation: Tiira K, Hakosalo O, Kareinen L, Thomas A, Hielm - Björkman A, Escriou C, et al. (2012) Environmental Effects on
Compulsive Tail Chasing in Dogs.
Bottom line,
if tail chasing is obsessive in nature, excessive, or results in hair loss or injury to the tail, consult your veterinarian or behaviorist for help.
Lisa Peterson, a dog breeder who is the director of communications for the American Kennel Club, says that
while tail chasing is usually just a puppy thing that happens when young pups discover they have a tail, it can also be influenced by a dog's age, sex and breed.
In the preliminary model we
included tail chasing status (case / control) as binary response variable, and mother's quality of care, time of separation in weeks, birth (problems / no problems), breed, gender as explanatory variables.
Examples of Canine Compulsive Disorder (CD) include
excessive tail chasing (TC), light / shadow chasing and flank sucking.
The recent study found increased arousal / frustration to be the most frequent trigger among
tail chasing Bull Terriers [26], whereas boredom was described as a trigger by one third of the owners in our study.
The research material in this study was 400
dog tail chasing videos collected from You Tube, with no other information on the dogs.
In our study, the owners reported in detail the daily exercise and activities of their dogs, and no association
between tail chasing frequency and exercise or the amount of activities was found.
In this case, the subjects of the study were Bull Terriers, who were chosen for their breed - specific behavior of
repetitive tail chasing.
The majority of dogs with
obsessive tail chasing in the recent study were found to suffer from high cholesterol, with HDL and LDL cholesterol both significantly higher than in dogs that only chased their tails on occasion.
Additionally, «all owners reported that their dogs commonly whined, barked or growled
during tail chasing,» according to Dr. Batmaz, a member of the university's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and his team.
The author based her conclusion on the fact that most
tail chasing videos were recorded indoors, whereas «control» videos (also collected from You Tube) were more often recorded outside.
Compulsive disorders (repeatedly performing a behavior to the extent that it interferes with everyday life)
like tail chasing, shadow chasing, licking, fly snapping, spinning, pacing, chewing, and toy fixation
The first questionnaire (Stereotypic Behaviour Q) consisted of a series of questions including dogs» a general history, environmental factors, diet,
tail chasing history and the presence of other possible compulsive behaviours (Attachment S1).
A recent study conducted by Hasan Batmaz and colleagues from the University of Uludag, Turkey, found that dogs exhibiting compulsive
tail chasing engaged in this activity for a minimum of 60 seconds per bout, several times a day.
But too
much tail chasing can be a symptom of health problems, including high cholesterol, according to new research.
For instance, restless pacing when you leave the house may be triggered by separation anxiety while
repeated tail chasing may stem from a compulsive disorder.
Sucking or chewing on fabrics, excessive grooming, repeated vocalizations, pacing and
constant tail chasing are some of the most common obsessive and compulsive cat behaviors.
Displacement behaviors such as spinning and
tail chasing normally occur as an occasional response to a stressful episode.
Certain breeds are pre-disposed to these behaviors, such as Bull Terriers and German Shepherds are commonly seen
for tail chasing, Labrador Retrievers can be orally fixated and driven to pick up any object and eat it.
Our study reveals several similarities between
canine tail chasing and human OCD, together with a novel finding of the effect of dietary nutrients on TC.
Jennifer ~ Michigan Glandex «It seems that there is less butt licking and
tail chasing going on so after the initial order of 1 bottle and 1 bottle from the second order it seems to be helping.
The French samples were recruited through a veterinary clinic and all the cases exhibited
severe tail chasing, for which they needed veterinary consultation.
, b) has the owners tried to stop the behaviour, c) does the dog
stop tail chasing when it is told to and d) while chasing its tail, does the dog react to its name, or other commands?
Furthermore, tail chasers that received vitamin B6 (x21, 146 = 13.96, p = 0.0002, after Bonferroni correction p = 0.001) or vitamin - C (x21, 146 = 7.78, p = 0.0002, after Bonferroni correction p = 0.027) had significantly
less tail chasing compared to those tail chasers not given any vitamin B6 or vitamin C.
In my experience, pain - related discomfort is an often overlooked cause of behavior problems such
as tail chasing.
If tail chasing has already progressed to injury, immediate veterinary attention is advised.
It's important not to ignore
excessive tail chasing, as it may become worse over time and even lead to other obsessive behaviors.
An earlier investigation about the role of dietary nutrients (zinc, copper and iron) on
compulsive tail chasing in BT, however, did not find any association [54].
We found a large variation in the frequency
of tail chasing in each of the studied breeds, from zero to several times per day.
OCD is often characterized by distressing thoughts and time - consuming, repetitive behaviors, while canine compulsions may include
repetitive tail chasing, excessive grooming and flank and blanket sucking.
To prevent
obsessive tail chasing, be sure to keep your dog as pest - free and clean as possible, thus preventing tail biting spurred from infestation or dirt.
Canines with CCD take these actions to extremes, such as licking or sucking on the skin until they damage their skin, or tail chewing on their tails
during tail chasing.
Similarly,
tail chasing Bull Terriers were found to have more trance - like behaviour [26].
In a recent large TC study in Bull Terriers, Moon - Fanelli et al. (2011) found males to be more susceptible to TC than females; however we did not observe any differences between males and females in
tail chasing in any of the studied breeds [26].