# Extremely bad case of happy tail - Docking??



## Passenger (Jun 10, 2008)

I've been battling Zeus with an awful case of happy tail for going on 2 months now. I'm tired of applying topicle ointments, wrapping his tail, and cleaning up blood around the house on a daily basis. 

I'm 99% sure his tail is going to have to be docked. I'm between jobs right now, but I've been saving up some money towards possbily having his tail docked. I know this is NOT something you're supposed to do with this breed, but I feel like I'm running out of options. 

Any ideas/suggestions?

-Jesse


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## megz (Jul 25, 2008)

Boomer has a constant "happy tail", get used to it. keep it clean and you'll be fine.
unless the tail has been broken most vets aren't gonna do anything but give you more expensive ointment. it becomes very unsafe to dock a dogs tail the older they get. after a year they shouldn't be touched except in emergency situations. 

what we have started in our house.... when someone comes to visit or some other hyper moment... we have to go outside. avoidance is always better than a vet bill


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## Sadie's Dad (Jul 9, 2009)

Sadie had happy tail and we just padded everything in the house. All the doors the fridge everything. LOL


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

Good info in this thread
http://www.gopitbull.com/health-nutrition/17922-vegas-tail-abuse-need-some-nifty-ideas.html


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## thaim (Feb 6, 2009)

Sadie's Dad said:


> Sadie had happy tail and we just padded everything in the house. All the doors the fridge everything. LOL


can i come visit ur house LOL id like to see ur set up around ur home HAHA


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## Hirihat (May 5, 2009)

we have a male, Truth, whose happy tail was so bad we had to have it docked. In his case, he was busting it open so often (daily) it could never heal and the end of his tail was literally dying. He had it docked at 13 months. It was pretty painful for him and we had to keep him confined for about 3 weeks because he wouldn't leave it alone to heal. He broke 3 E collars during his recovery period. If you end up having to do the docking, make sure the vet leaves a flap of skin to close the tail so it will heal faster and better. If you can avoid it, it is definitely better. In our case, we couldn't avoid it because infection was becoming constant regardless of our best efforts to keep it clean! Truth is just so happy all the time! We actually call him samba-butt because he always looks like he's trying to dance he wags so hard! LOL


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## Sadie's Dad (Jul 9, 2009)

Hirihat said:


> we have a male, Truth, whose happy tail was so bad we had to have it docked. In his case, he was busting it open so often (daily) it could never heal and the end of his tail was literally dying. He had it docked at 13 months. It was pretty painful for him and we had to keep him confined for about 3 weeks because he wouldn't leave it alone to heal. He broke 3 E collars during his recovery period. If you end up having to do the docking, make sure the vet leaves a flap of skin to close the tail so it will heal faster and better. If you can avoid it, it is definitely better. In our case, we couldn't avoid it because infection was becoming constant regardless of our best efforts to keep it clean! Truth is just so happy all the time! We actually call him samba-butt because he always looks like he's trying to dance he wags so hard! LOL


Sadie is like that 2 but it went away when she was not in her crate anymore


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## Hirihat (May 5, 2009)

Sadie's Dad said:


> Sadie is like that 2 but it went away when she was not in her crate anymore


His wasn't the crate so much as every wall and door and cabinet and the washer and the brick exterior and the metal furniture and our legs and......LOL
Truth may be the happiest dog I have ever met. He dances and prances his way through life! I will have to get some vid posted of his dancing self! He is a Am Foxhound/APBT mix so he is really leggy which makes it even cuter! LOL


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## Sadie's Dad (Jul 9, 2009)

Hirihat said:


> His wasn't the crate so much as every wall and door and cabinet and the washer and the brick exterior and the metal furniture and our legs and......LOL
> Truth may be the happiest dog I have ever met. He dances and prances his way through life! I will have to get some vid posted of his dancing self! He is a Am Foxhound/APBT mix so he is really leggy which makes it even cuter! LOL


Sadie has a wire cage crate and her tail would hit along the wall of the cage like and inmate running his cup up and down his jail cell LOL.


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