Tail Chasing - Page 1

My 8.5 month old GSD chases her tail...all.the.time...i dont know what to do! It doesn't matter how tired she is she just starts doing it again. At this point i think she is already obsessed. Some say to keep her from getting bored, tire her out, etc. but even if i take her on a walk or to the park and she comes home panting like crazy, she will still do it. We've tried a firm "hey" or "no" but she only stops for a second just to do it again. We've now started trying to ignore her but she still does it. It is an every day problem.
I even think that is why she doesnt have a straight tail anymore...You can see in one of her pictures how much is curves at the end now. Almost looks like a Husky tail now! ugh.

Any suggestions at all?! Thanks...

You're not being firm or persistent enough to handle this yourselves.  You need to really interrupt their thought process, and stay on it like a hawk, until you've marked every triggering behavior, overlaying it with a new process.  After you jolt her with "hey" or "no", don't just drop it and ignore her.  Guide her into a replacement routine, and long enough that she assumes the "driver's seat" for the new behavior all on her own.

Agree with Daryl
 SHould have been addressed back when 3 mons old.

It is a behavoural thing that has to be addressed with your diligence and your ALPHA obedience and getting the pup distracted and in some kind of routine work.

every day.

and kenneled when doing it immed and give a ROUND RAW BONE to chew...the minute it starts , 3 seconds at most,,get dog into another mode of OPERENDO>.

I do not know now what to tell you...IT will take hours and days to correct.\

My first trainer reminded me  every day......TRAIN CORRECT and Address everything  immediately., as it is days and hours saved retraining and  TEACHING an old dog new tricks...

bottom line to that...is   do not let a behavioural habit get started.... nip in bud  right away...BECAUSE  it takes   twice the time and hours and effort to CORRECT>

YR

Ok thank you, we will just try being more persistant with her. It shouldn't be too difficult since we are very fed up with her doing it.

Persistant, AND a substitute for the behavior.  I would guess that it WILL be difficult, because like YR says, you didn't nip it in the bud from the start, and have allowed the undesireable behavior to strongly reinforce itself.  I've only personally dealt with a couple minor cases, caught very early on.  When allowed to persist for so long, reported results often end up in failure.  You may very well be at the stage now, where it's necessary to accompany the treatment with drugs, but remember DRUGS ALONE WILL NOT WORK.  Attentive handling with behavior modification techniques are mandatory.

Yeah i meant it wont be hard for me to actually do it. Obviously it will be hard to get her to stop in the long run im not dumb. And of course ill subsitute also. I wont just stop her and walk away...

I keep shut down kennels , I call them , all over my property for various reasons.

Extra Large Wire crates from Wal Mart or  Tractor Supply etc.

Just put her in a wire crate immed for a period of time and give her a knuckle bone...tell her no means nothing..

She doesn't know  what NO or NINE means to this..YOU simply   distract her ASAP...without any commands...do not draw  her attention to any command

Just automatically clap  hands, call her or act like a clown and get into a different mode asap....play ball, tug or something the minute you see her doing it...without scolding her or any type of command...


THEN put her in a wire crate for an hour with a knuckle raw meat bone...and then put her back in long run....if she does it , do same thing ...soon she will stop and forget to do it...maybe...lol

IT is now a habit and like all habits , will be hard to break...but  giving her a task or play or something immed will soothe her need to  chase

put a big bone on  a long skki rope about 6 ft long]]

run with it and let her   chase it..

or twirl over head and let her chase it

get her into chasing tugs , ropes with objects on it

instead

Use her prey drive to some useful means.

YR

Nikki...do you have any other dogs? usually having other dogs to play with will keep them tired and force them to focuse on eachother than on themselfs...just wondering.

No, i do not have any other dogs but my parents have one and some friends so we try to get her with them as often as we can.
I have started distracting her everytime she even stares at her tail and I can tell that after some time this is going to help.
Thanks

I have seen tail chasers obsessed to the point of exhaustion. Very sad.
I had one start to chase their tail several times and Quickly corrected them right from the start. I even put him on a leash and kept him by my side at all times and every time he started, he got a firm correction and after a month, never did he do it again. It was exausting but good results came from it.