The American Beagler Forum

My cousin ran this morning and said his male dog can not lift his tail this evening. He called and said he tried to lift it up at the base and the dog squeeled like it hurt. he said it didn't look to be broke or have anything wrong he just can't raise it and acts like it hurts when he tries to raise it manually. Any one ever experianced this? He also said that the dog doesn't act like it hurts other than when my cousin tries to raise it.

Would be curious to know if he's eating/drinking normally and if he's deficating and urinating.

May not be his "tail" at all.

Stand out of the way and with a gloved finger mash the stopped up gland just inside his butt hole.

I agree with Alabama John. The glands just inside the dogs anus needs to be cleared. Like he said stay clear or you may get an eye full....

Doesn't sound like an anal gland problem to me but, more like a "cold tail" it should come back in a few days time.

Here is some info on cold tail. http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/coldtail.html

Leah

Windkist, I think you may have hit the nail on the head with this one. My cousin nor I have ever witnessed this after being around hounds our entire lives and were clueless. I have expressed anal glands and know about that but this seemed to happen while he was out being ran. He started out in perfect shape, hunting up a storm with tail going 100 miles an hour. After a couple hours of this he made a loss and wouldn't come in so my cousin bumped him with the shocker and he came in with his tail tucked or dead looking. He never thought much about it at the time as he thought he was sneeking in as he knew he messed up when he didn't come when called. Later that afternoon he called me to say that his tail was still hanging and when he tried to lift it he squeeled like he was in pain. The dog had not been hunted for a couple weeks and so all that was described appears to fall right in with this situation. I'll keep you all updated on this as it's a new one for us old dogs.

I've had dogs now for over 20 years and haven't had it happen either but, Have heard of it from quite a few people.

I'll bet he'll be good as new in a few days ;-)

Leah

I have seen it and it was exactly as you described it Good workin tail all day then Boom Cold tail.
the Beagle I seen get it was better in about 3 days With some improvement every day

I've seen cold tail with labs before but it didn't appear to be too painful but it would depend on the dog’s pain tolerance. It sounds like what is described. If there is any wag in the tail, it will only be a little bit in the tip as the rest of the tail appears dead so to speak. If it doesn't get better in a few days I would suggest a vet take a look.

Chris

Here's an update folks as I stopped by my cousins house on my way home this evening. His male was raising his tail wagging it but a little gingerly. My cousin said that he had improved since this morning when he stared to move it just a little. It looks like these two ole men just got us a lesson on "cold tail". In all our years of being around hunting dogs we had never even heard of this let alone seen it with our own two eyes. Just goes to show you that you never get to old to learn something new or different. This site is a vast wealth of information and we thank you Windkist for enlightening us as this is something that a person would think they were imagining when in a few days it has completely gone away.

Just goes to show you that you never get to old to learn something new or different. This site is a vast wealth of information and we thank you Windkist for enlightening us as this is something that a person would think they were imagining when in a few days it has completely gone away.

I'm glad the dog is doing better ;-) I really enjoy reading these boards and learning too ;-)

take care,

Leah

I have a hound that is reckless when he runs and there are lots of rock and cliffs around here and I believe he fell and was injured. His tail was like what is described but took about a month before his wagger was back up to snuff.

I had a dog do this a few years ago and took him to the vet. The vet said that there are 4 or 5 small vertibraes between the back vertibraes and tail bone. One of these vertibraes was fractured and healed up just fine in about a month.

Folks, this dogas tail was as good as new the day after my last post. I was over there today and his tail was going 100 MPH.