# "Happy Tail"



## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Zailey officially has "happy tail" and it's so damn frustrating I'm at my wits end with it.
She isn't crated all that much. Overnight, and maybe a maximum of 4 hours during the day is all, but between wagging in her crate, and thwacking it on furniture, walls, etc. it keeps opening and bleeding. It's not the very tip, it's near the tip though. 
It's frustrating because it opens, and then there's blood EVERYWHERE. the walls, the furniture, the other dogs, the inside of the car... anywhere she goes, there's blood splatter.

From what I've read, it's kind of a "cross your fingers and hope it heals, but if it gets worse it has to be docked" thing. I don't have any experience with this... Boxers and Pemmies are generally docked. 


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Ouch! I'm definitely no help to you at all, I have zero idea how to help lol... but it sure does look painful, poor love. Duke whacks his tail on everything too (we have to clear the coffee table before he enters the room or we end up with stuff all over the floor) but he's never split it. Would bandages help? I suppose she would just pull them off though...


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## DeekenDog (Aug 29, 2011)

I know someone who fashioned something out of bandages and PVC pipe which seemed to do the trick.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

DeekenDog said:


> I know someone who fashioned something out of bandages and PVC pipe which seemed to do the trick.


Thats what I was going to say, I know a few people who have saved their dogs tails this way. But I am not sure how they stop them from continually breaking it open.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Hey Lins,
I saw this on Facebook earlier. We tried EVERYTHING! Looked like a murder took place in our house on several occasions! I joked and said I hope the police never come spray that Luminall (sp?) stuff, cuz they would see blood spatter everywhere!! We never did get Bud's tail to heal and we ended up having to dock it. He was about 5 or 6 when that happened. Luckily he was such a happy dog, he didn't miss it. We were worried he might get depressed, since it could have been associated with having a limb amputated!!

That's why when Khan had this happen to his tail when he was a baby we docked it right away!! Our vet said since he's so young, he wouldn't even realize it ws gone, and wouldn't miss it!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

What I would suggest is using popsicle sticks to line that part of her tail (cut them in half so they aren't as long). Then use either really sticky water proof tape (you can get it from your vet for cheaper than Walgreens probably) OR just use duct tape. You'll have to re-bandage it on a regular basis until it heals. Once it heals most of the way, you can stop the popsicle sticks and just use tape. 

Unfortunately its hard to train a Dane not to wag their tail hard enough to break it open on things. There's a good chance that you'll have to deal with this for a long time. Bailey had this when she was younger and I was afraid that I'd have to dock her tail...but I was lucky because she had it just that once and has yet to break her tail open again.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Well, I've tried banging it about 5 different ways and no matter what I do, its off in about 5 seconds. Not because she rips it off, but because she ways it off no matter how much tape I use. 
I also bandaged it to her belly so she wouldn't be able to wack it around, but tat one she did get off, even with a cone. 
I hate the idea of rating for more than a couple hours hut I think that's what is going to have to happen for a couple days when we aren't outside or on walks where there isn't anything to hit it on. I am really really really hoping she doesn't have to have it docked.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Ok....I would get Telfa pads and cut them into pieces just big enough to cover the actual wound. You can get Telfa pads at any grocery/pharm store. Then use just duct tape to keep it there. Sometimes less is more...


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

We have had a few Danes at my clinic come in with happy tail and they've all ended up having to have them docked. I'm actually to a point where I think it wouldn't be the worst idea if Danes became a docked breed like boxers and Dobes. All of these dogs have done just fine after having their tails docked, just have to keep them from bothering it for about 10 days while it heals and then they're good to go for life! I hate the idea of having to put padding or something on their tail for the rest of their life instead. I have no idea how you'd train a Dane not to wag their tail too hard. I think with some dogs, they get happy tail once and learn their lesson and other dogs just never learn and it keeps happening unfortunately. I'd recommend docking, but if you'd prefer, you can try to train her not to wag so hard first and keep the docking as a backup plan. 

I know some people are dumb and tried just removing the part of the tail that normally gets hurt and usually we end up removing the tail in sections until it's finally at a "normal" docked length anyway. So if you do decide to go the docking route, just get it done like boxer or pointer length so you don't have to worry about it ever happening again.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to get those pads in about an hour. 
I've accepted she *might have to get docked, which will look pretty darn silly, but I want to make sure I've tried everything else first. 
If there's anything in the world I don't love about Danes, it's their tails, but I still think she would look so silly docked. I'd rather her lose her tail than have it get infected and cause more problems, though. 
It's been going on for only 3 days, at what point do I throw in the towel though?


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## ILOVEDANES (Oct 13, 2011)

I just recently went through this too with my girl, the split open tail not far from the tip as you descibed and the blood splattered EVERYWHERE! I just used a paper towel to cover the wound part and then taped the entire thing from the paper towel and at least an inch or so past the wound on both ends so that it was taped on her fur pretty good too, that kept it from coming off right away, I think it stayed for like a week then I just re-did it, hope that helps, I feel your pain! You could use a bandage too instead of the paper towel.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

PuppyPaws said:


> Zailey officially has "happy tail" and it's so damn frustrating I'm at my wits end with it.
> She isn't crated all that much. Overnight, and maybe a maximum of 4 hours during the day is all, but between wagging in her crate, and thwacking it on furniture, walls, etc. it keeps opening and bleeding. It's not the very tip, it's near the tip though.
> It's frustrating because it opens, and then there's blood EVERYWHERE. the walls, the furniture, the other dogs, the inside of the car... anywhere she goes, there's blood splatter.
> 
> ...


At my work we get a 2 year old male dane that comes in about 3 times a month because he has "happy tail" as well. We bandage it up and do a laser therapy on it. The owner refuses to have it docked. It looks like it's healing up very very slowly.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

DeekenDog said:


> I know someone who fashioned something out of bandages and PVC pipe which seemed to do the trick.


that sounds pretty clever.

poor zailey. poor you, lins....blood everywhere. so much fun to clean.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Update!! 

So, pretty much anything she couldn't wag off, she chewed off... and a cone was no use, dang long neck.

Anyway, for the last week Zailey has spent a lot of time either crated, or outside where there's way less to thwack her tail on. And, of course she got extra walks to compensate. 
It looks pretty healed and hasn't bled in days, so I think I'm in the clear this time and have dodged having to dock her for the time being.

I feel bad because its been cold out, but she has been pretty happy to find sticks to do zoomies with all day. Lol. Good thing she's not as much of a total baby about cold as some of my others.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm glad to hear that it's cleared up this time. I never knew that was a problem, but once you described it and I took a good look at all your pictures, I could see how those long, thin tails could split easy. 

I had one dog with a regular long tail (labrador) and after living through that thing knocking over every item in the house, I stuck to curly tailed dogs! Even Shades tail curls for some reason (I think he's trying to look like a chow so I'll keep him).


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Glad to hear it's on the mend. We see a lot of dalmatians with that issue. Have seen a couple labs and danes though too.


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