I witnessed this in both an import dog as well as an American dog.They would
chase their tails until they were bloody nubs. You could distract them if you
were present, but when left alone, the dogs would start up again. I am sure
there are degrees of the disorder, and probably some can overcome it with
behavior modification, but these two particular dogs could not overcome it. No
amount of redirecting helped. It was some type of extreme OCD behavior. Like
with people, some are OCD and no amount of therapy seems to work. I knew of a
woman who had a blemish on her face, and she became so obsessed with picking at
it that what had once been a small barely noticeable blemish, became a huge
crater in her cheek. Could not get her to stop,psych. treatment couldn't,
medication worked only for awhile. It was awful. Back to dogs again, I also saw
a doberman at a show that had the same issue but chased his front paw with the
other front paw. He would place his foot on top of the other foot, and then
pull the bottom one away, and then he would look at his foot and do it again,
he wouldn't stop. On a positive note, I have seen some young dogs who "play
chase" their tails when they are happy, or just being silly, and they out grow
it, or it never becomes OCD. However when I see a young dog doing this, I still
watch closely and keep an eye out to see if this is just play or a sign of
something more serious. Christine
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