Tail Injury?

[wormfood]

Ok, a weird thing happened this weekend. Took the dog up to the cabin and had a great time throwing dummies for her and getting her used to jumping off the dock (Game Fair baby!). Everything was fine until about 2 hours before we left and she was walking around with her tail hanging down like she had just had her way with a plate of steaks off the table... Didn't think much of it, she must have known we were starting to pack up and she was gonna miss the place...???

Got home with no problems, went to bed and at 4am she comes in the room yelping like one of the kids got a hold of an electronic collar remote and was wondering 'What does this button do?' At that point we're thinking, oh great, she got a bug and she's about to blow... nope, but she was yelping every few steps... stool and pee parts works fined all day today - it just looked painful when she stooped down to do her business.

Tried applying pressure to her hind quarters to see if something may have gotten tweaked but there was no reaction until I tried to move her tail... that got her attention real quick.

So here's the deal, her tail makes a turn down after about 5 inches and then is pretty much held between her legs. It's not limp or anything but she definitely does not wag it one bit nor move it much at all.

I don't know of her getting it slammed in a door or pulled or anything so I'm scratching my head thinking this forum may give us some reason for this and possibly how serious it could be. We'll be calling the vet tomorrow but I'm not up for an 'exploratory' visit to find out that it's a pulled glute muscle and she'll be fine. Darn dog, if only I could get a keyboard with big paw-sized letters, then she could just toss me an e-mail...

wormfood

[marine_man]

It's likely a case of Limber Tail:

Check this link out...

marine_man

[wormfood]

Wow, that fits exactly what I am seeing. Thanks marine_man for the link. Other lab owners should take a look and pass it along.

[setterguy]

My setter has gotten this too after a long day in the field, ecspecially the water. Scared the dump out of me the first time I saw it, there goes the 12 o'clock tail I thought. She should recover in a day or so, good luck.

[bigdog]

My labs get this after alot of swimming, usually in colder water. Like was said above it should clear up in a couple days.

[woodview]

Wow hadn't ever heard of or seen that before.

wormfood - got scared for a second - was really hoping there weren't any toothe marks associated with that condition.

Your pup gets a big christmas present from me for being so cool with Tess's first real interaction with other dogs. Nice seeing her relax and realize she can have dog friends.

The dock jumps were great - really wish we'd have gotten mine's first jump . peddle to the metal right up to about 1/2 way down the dock then sliding brakes right into some sort of inverted half-gainer backflip thing . Silence right into knee slapping laughs.

by the way, CONGRATS on wormfoods 12lb catch and release walleye on friday . Biggest eye I've been in the boat for - need to send me the video of her swimming back into the depths - it was beautiful. Great camerra work - Not very funny when the guy who hands you the camerra and says it's rolling then asks you if it was on, after the fish is already gone. I'd have choked on my own tongue if we hadn't gotten film of it. Lesson learned.

Great job on the hunting DVD's as well. you should do that professionally, chapter titles and everything.

Hope everything comes out okay with her tail - bit scary that they say ~ 1/3 of them have it recur.

Again, congrats - checked out the pic you sent me and not only do they look smaller after they're out of the water but it's even more so on film. You're too big a guy to do that fish justice - should have had me holding it then pasted your mug on my body... would have looked huge

[wormfood]

Sure was a fun weekend. I did update the pictures from Leebowitz's camera - a heck of a lot better than what I first posted. Take a gander if you get a chance. That and the video is being worked on but I haven't had time to finalize it. She was definitely the biggest I'll see - man that was fun - I was burnt to a crisp but that's what I get.

Tessa was a good pup and it is too bad the video wasn't running on that first jump - would have been a contender on AFV.

Oh yeah, her tail is coming around. She's moving it but it still takes some effort.

[BlackLabGuy]

My Lab has gotten this several times, always after the first bunch of swimming and dock jumping of the year. After a few days or a week back to normal and good for the rest of the year. I think it is just like we feel after a hard workout after a winter of doing nothing...

[FishingwithJake]

My Lab got this once after a long day of swimming in colder water. My dog was misserable all night. The vet recommended Buffered Asprin for the pain.