The American Beagler Forum

OK I need someone to clear this up for me..............I don't understand


I have read alot of time's that a beagle's tail bleeds because of the briars....Sorry but that does not make any sense to me........I thought it is because of the dog wagging it's tail back and forth causing a pressure buildup and therefore causing the tip of the tail to bleed...........I don't see how a couple of briar needle's could some how poke into the tip of the tail causing that part of the tail to bleed.........

it's from their tails beating up against stickers and to some extend, any brush and weeds.

just like if we were to swing our arms around in a sticker patch...

It is from wagging an hitting brush/briars.
It wears the hair and hide from the tip of the tail.

This is of course only a guess. I think that the briars may start the bleeding but the wagging of the tail causes more blood to be forced to the end of the tail causing more blood to come out than if they were just standing there and not wagging their tail.

If you were to cut your hand/finger and start shaking it real hard more blood would come out than if you just stood there and held your hand still.

I don't see how a couple of briar needle's could some how poke into the tip of the tail causing that part of the tail to bleed.........I tell you what, you take your hand or arm and swing it in a briar patch and you tell me what your hand looks like, now a dog does that at a much faster rate than your hand and while he is running through it adding more tears and pricks and the blood rises to the skin surface and he or she is wagger their tails keeping the blood flowing because the briars are tearing into them preventing the blood from clotting.. If your dog still has hair on his tail this close to the end of the season then you are running cornfields or you aint running or maybe you boys up north running Hare in the woods. Dogs here don't have any hair for the last 3 inches and ears look like they have been in a blender and are like dried ,blood soaked leather flaps...

if we were to swing our arms in a brair patch then we would be bleeding just about everywhere on our arms not just the part farthest from our body.............

I thought that the hair falls of because of the bleeding and the tail becoming raw..........Not because it is brushing up against the brairs...I could see just a little hair falling because of the briars but not 2 or sometimes 3 inches of raw opposum tail.........

Joeyman,

Have you ever been down in the South East where the briars are so thick you can't see through them??? We got little hooks on the end of ours so if they don't break off in ya they rip ya wide open! (ask TC about them LOL)

At trials the judges look worse than the dogs! LMAO Blood everywhere!! Could you emagine one of these ol boys driving home after a trial and getting pulled over by the police?? Unless that officer was a good ol boy, he would sure have some explaining to do LOL.

Yeah briars start the bleeding and tail action keeps it going. Don't think for a second the briars can't do damage. Its like getting stuck by needles.

Cottontail Chaser wrote:I don't see how a couple of briar needle's could some how poke into the tip of the tail causing that part of the tail to bleed.........I tell you what, you take your hand or arm and swing it in a briar patch and you tell me what your hand looks like, now a dog does that at a much faster rate than your hand and while he is running through it adding more tears and pricks and the blood rises to the skin surface and he or she is wagger their tails keeping the blood flowing because the briars are tearing into them preventing the blood from clotting.. If your dog still has hair on his tail this close to the end of the season then you are running cornfields or you aint running or maybe you boys up north running Hare in the woods. Dogs here don't have any hair for the last 3 inches and ears look like they have been in a blender and are like dried ,blood soaked leather flaps...

Yeah but just the tip......................The very tip.................


I have one female that her tail bleed's up pretty good (natural tailed) my other female only just a little and that is when it is really cold out or after a 6 or 7 hour hunt (natural tailed also)........My other two have their tail's docked just about a 1-1/2 or so why don't those two tail bleed then, if it's the briars that are causing them to bleed...........??????

000

SouthernBeagles wrote:Joeyman,

Have you ever been down in the South East where the briars are so thick you can't see through them??? We got little hooks on the end of ours so if they don't break off in ya they rip ya wide open! (ask TC about them LOL)

At trials the judges look worse than the dogs! LMAO Blood everywhere!! Could you emagine one of these ol boys driving home after a trial and getting pulled over by the police?? Unless that officer was a good ol boy, he would sure have some explaining to do LOL.

Yeah briars start the bleeding and tail action keeps it going. Don't think for a second the briars can't do damage. Its like getting stuck by needles.

OH we have are fair share of brair patches here in MO............My legs have been tore too..........Yes I can see how brair's can start it but I still am having a little trouble believing........WHY don't dog's with their tail's crop an inch or so bleed........They pass through the same briars as the natural tailed dogs do and not a drop of blood..........That is where I'm puzzled.......

I haven't run too much with dogs that had docked tails.
I speculate that they bleed less for several reasons.
1. The hair is thicker an 1" or 2" down.
2. The tail has less whip because it is shorter.
3. The hide is thicker an 1" or 2" down.

The longer the tail, the more contact it is going to make.
It may also be that the shorter tail stays within the body width of the dog when gonig through brush, but just guessing.

Two out of three of my dogs has a possum tail. It is the wagging against brush that is wearing the hair and hide off the sides.
You can see it develop because the sides will be bald first with hair on top and bottom of the tail. It eventually wears all the hair off and the whole thing becomes a "possum tail" for about 2" to 3" back.

SilverZuk wrote: It may also be that the shorter tail stays within the body width of the dog when gonig through brush, but just guessing.

I think you hit the nail on the head... Also, the shorter tail doesn't raise up as high in the air and so it doesn't catch the briars that skim over the top of the dog. JMO

Emery

One of my hound's beats his tail back and forth evenly across the back of him.. he'll bleed in the fall when there is lots of dry brush/trees (North, no briars), whereas my other two have never bled but swing their tails in a different motion than he does. The brother to this hound has the same problem.

I think Silverzuk hit it right on the head. But just because you dock it don't mean it's not going to bleed, the gyp's tail I just docked still bleeds just alot less .She also can't paint her sides since I docked it, which means to me she can't swing it around as far and she's hitting fewer briars. Our dogs all have pitiful looking tails some have 4 or 5 inches wore raw directly on top of their tail others just have the 3 inch possum tail. Really the only one that looks decent is the gyp I just banded. BTW I'll dock all mine from now on, I don't care what it looks like.
I don't believe their ears bother them near as much as a sore tail

Just my opinion of the cause (roughly in this order):

1) wags tail wildly from side-to-side when trailing
2) carries tail upright (versus straight behind)
3) thick briars/thorns - more of a problem in milder climates
4) improper tail set (set too high)
5) tail too long, curled, kinked, etc.
6) rat-tailed (lack of hair - especially on the tip)

If they beagle bleeds to the point of enemia, stops hunting/running to lick his tail, or shows excessive discomfort the day after a hunt - dock it. If the beagle seems to cope with it okay and the hair still grows back, I do not dock.