Why Do Dogs Chase Thier Tails??

On this weeks episode, Jake from OnDog Training Academy talks about the common behavior of tail chasing and why it might not be a cute and innocent as it looks. 

  

Transcript

Dogs chasing their tails till they're dizzy and fall over may seem like something that's really cute and fun to do. But what if there's more to it? What if our dogs are trying to tell us something? Well in this week's episode, that's what we're gonna talk about. Tail chasing and why it may not be as cute as you think.

Let's get into it next. All right, well, 

we're gonna get this week's episode going and I actually think this one is one that I am excited to talk about because it's a common question that I think comes up a lot with people when we're talking to them. They want to know why their dog is doing it, how can we stop it, and everything. But before we do that guys, hey, welcome to the Learn Laugh Bark Bark podcast.

I am your host Jake from On Dog Training Academy and like I mentioned in the, in the beginning here, we're going to talk about tail chasing.  And what I mean by that is dogs chasing their own tail, not chasing other dogs tails. That's just dogs being playful and  punkish and whatever. But I'm talking about chasing their own tails.

You know what I'm talking about. Dogs go after their tails, they're spinning around in circles. Eventually maybe they catch it, sometimes they don't, most of the time they don't. Um, but why are they doing this? Is this something that is  Something we need to be concerned about, or is it just the dog being playful and cute?

Well, that's what we're going to try and figure out. So I'm going to be talking about why they do it, and why the reasons I should say they do it. Uh, starting with some of the more common ones, and then getting into some of the ones that can actually be a little bit more dangerous. Uh, and, I don't know, maybe something you should definitely be, uh, considering.

So with that being said guys, the first thing is  attention seeking. So, when dogs are wanting attention, they throw out behaviors. Some of them stick, some of them don't. But if they throw out, let's say they chase their tail and you start laughing and you interact with the dog. The dog's gonna go, oh, that gets you to pay attention to me.

I'm gonna keep doing it. And again, it may seem something that's like cute and whatever, but this can lead to obsessive compulsive disorder. This can lead to a whole lot of different things. So being mindful of maybe not acknowledging it as much as you would Like to is something I think that is very important.

Another reason can just be, especially if it's a puppy, is just sheer curiosity of the thing that's hanging off their butt. Right? Like, you'll see puppies go, Wait, I have a tail. And they're like, What is this thing? And then they just kind of go after it a little bit, and they bite it, and it's cute, and it's pretty much innocent.

But same thing as before, we don't want them to do it over and over and have it become something that is so habitual again, it becomes obsessive because that's when problems can, can definitely kick in,  um, you know, and, and it could be something as simple as your dog only does it when they have excessive energy and they're looking for you to pay attention to them.

Um, but it also, if it does become an OCD behavior, it can be mentally Uh, damaging to them as well. So as, as anyone who has ever suffered from OCD, thankfully I have not, you can probably relate to the difficulties that come of it. Um, so really making sure  that you are interrupting this, and we'll get into a little bit of that later.

But the first, like I said, the first two reasons dogs chase tails is curiosity as a puppy and just straight boredom. Uh, the next thing could be fleas. If your dog has fleas and they're, they're itchy.  It certainly could be something that is, they're, they're going after their tail cause their tail itches.

And it's, again, it, it's something that maybe starts out as a simple itch,  but turns into a tick turns into a like, again, a behavior that the dog just does obsessively even after you've taken care of the fleas. So really making sure you're, you're staying up to date with your flea and tick medications, I think is going to be super important to help kind of fend this.

possibility off, but we have to look at other things too. Medical conditions. Dogs are really good at telling us things if we're paying attention. And unfortunately, there are things that we see dogs doing that we think are cute and funny that maybe  are them trying to tell us, and we're just not receiving it.

And, chasing the tail is one of them. If your dog's in pain, if they have hip pain, if they have tail pain, if they have back pain, it can be expressed through tail chasing because the dog is trying to alleviate the pain or grab it or bite the pain because that's what they do. You know, they, you see dogs  When they get hurt or they cut themselves, they want to lick, right?

Like, they hurt their paw. And so they want to lick and kind of pay attention to it. Well, it's the same thing on the back end, but they can't do it very easily. So it basically turns into tail chasing.  The other thing then is parasites. It sounds gross, and again, keeping your dog up to date with, with flea and tick medications, um, heartworm things, all those preventatives, it's going to help with this.

But parasites exist. And, unfortunately, if your dog is having some sort of, uh, parasite  that might be making them itch in a certain back area, they're going to be going back there a lot, and again, it could turn into tail chasing. Um, or seemingly tail chasing.  The other thing is anxiety. So, anxiety or stress, because I'll say both of them in kind of the same breath here.

Dogs are really interesting when it comes to how they  Show anxiety, how they show stress. And it's not like they can just come up to you and be like, I'm super nervous, I'm super anxious, or I don't know what's going on. You know, they do it in, through expression, expressing themselves. So, it could be a dog gets super stressed or anxious and they all of a sudden get really hyper.

And you're like, I don't get why my dog is so hyper and crazy and getting into trouble, whatever. It's how they're responding to stress. Another dog, you know, stress anxiety can make them shut down.  Other times dogs stress and anxiety, they start licking obsessively licking. You, a piece of furniture, the floor, themselves.

And tail chasing is just lumped into that as well. Tail chasing is definitely something where, if they get stressed and they have found it as a successful stress reliever or anxiety reliever, they're going to start to do it. You can see these things pop up more when, like, there's thunderstorms or fireworks, or if you're doing some sort of exercise or something with your dog that is making them anxious or nervous.

You may start seeing tail chase popping up more. It also can sort of be tied into this a little bit. It can also be, um,  a  way to get out of something.  You know, they're like saying, Oh, you tell him to sit. And they're like, I'll just chase my tail. It's a way for them to sort of say, I don't want to really do what you're telling me to do.

So I'm going to chase my tail. And it's interrupted the behavior that you've wanted me to do before. So I'm just going to keep doing it. Now. All of these, and this is why we always say, if you're concerned, if your dog starts chasing their tail out of the blue, consult a veterinarian and get them checked out.

Make sure that they don't have parasites. Make sure there's not medical issues going on. You can also physically examine your dog. Touch their back. Touch their tail. Touch their hips. See if they're showing any discomfort. You know, this is a good start to being able to understand why they're doing it.

Making a list of things, being like, okay, well, my dog's chasing his tail now in these situations and trying to just diagnose why your dog might be doing this, especially if it's a behavior thing. Um,  so ways you can kind of stop getting them to stop doing it if your dog is doing it is to keep, especially if this is anxiety or stress related, try to keep your training sessions super short and keep them positive.

You know, you maybe say we're going to go back to using treats and fun things and less corrections and negative things. To get you to stop it because something that won't work, I promise you, it will not work if your dog is chasing their tail because of anxiety or stress or even OCD.  Yelling at them and physically correcting them or doing anything like that isn't going to help, right?

Think of you like if you're, if you're, there's a deadline at work and you're super stressed, you're anxious, you're like, I got to get this done. I don't know if I'm going to get this done. And then your boss comes up and just screams at you and says,  stop worrying about it. Just get it done.  Does that suddenly make you feel better?

I doubt it. If it does, you're odd. Like, I'll just be honest, you're odd. But I doubt it. So keeping it positive, keeping your training session short, and just trying to make more positive repetitions while,  uh, interrupting any tail chasing. But I simply just go, uh uh, hey, let's stay focused over here, and just try to reward quicker so the dog doesn't get into that tail chasing kind of circle or cycle. 

No pun intended with the circle. Um, you know, also look at like reducing stress and anxiety levels. So if it's, if it's storm or firework or gunshot related, well how can you minimize that? Maybe when there's gonna be a storm or fireworks you give your dog a CBD chew or you turn the music on or you kennel him and cover it.

You do what you can to minimize stress, which is going to minimize the dog feeling that desire or that, that compulsion to chase their tail.  Giving them things that they can chew on instead of their tail. So, this one's a little bit tricky. So it's like, you want to make sure that you're, you're giving your dog something.

Again, this could be during a storm or this could be, you know, when the kids play, the dog gets super hyper and maybe stressed or anxious and wants to chase their tail during that time.  I'll, I'll try to be more proactive in it and I'll give my dog a, a chew or a toy or something that they can actually hold on to and like Soothe them more, um, as opposed to chasing their tails,  you know, and again, we'll kind of end with this.

If the dog continues to do this and you're having a hard time interrupting it, consult a veterinarian to figure out if there's something else that can be done, or maybe they can give the dog a good look over and figure out, is this medical, is this mental, what's going on and be able to help you through it with your dog.

Because again, tail chasing, it seems cute and I understand it, but in the end. It could be something way worse. So guys, I really hope this was helpful. This was the  Week three, this is category three, every month we're breaking it down into four different groups. This was the group of why does my dog blank.

And today, this week was why does my dog chase their tail. We'll be doing this every month, so if you enjoyed this one and your curiosity has now risen, make sure you like and subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to it. You can check us out also on YouTube, we're on Facebook, Instagram, everywhere like that.

Uh, you can leave reviews, you can subscribe to all of those if you'd like, whatever you want to do. If anything, you could just share this episode with you. If you have a friend whose dog chases their tail and you're concerned, share this with them and be like, Hey look, I just heard this, you should listen to it and check it out.

Because it's going to give you some good information and maybe get you to help stop your dog from doing the behaviors that you're not liking. So anyways guys, hopefully this was helpful. Hopefully, uh, you learned something from it. And of course, like always, we'll see you next week. 

Good dog.