Any suggestions for "happy tail?"

Our new adopted dog, lab/pit mix (but she looks all pit......damn bodybuilder), she's about 1 year old and has a crazy strong tail.

She is constantly whipping it all over the place, smacking it on stuff. To the point that she splits it open and further wacks proceed to leave blood splatter on the cabinets and walls Dexter would be happy to analyze. 

Obviously, she has refused our attempts to clean and bandage it by promptly removing it. Any ideas? 

Tailectomy? Pit Bulls tend to not feel pain like other dogs.

My lab pit mix had the same thing. A bandage would never stay on so I just put antibiotic ointment on the tip and tried to steer her away from the walls/tables/hard surfaces when she is really excited (most of the time). After a month or two she stopped doing it enough to split the end and all is well. 

Between that and her cutting her paw and running around like nothing was wrong there was a lot of blood in the house the first couple months. 

Whoa.  I had no idea.   

Friends of mine had a pit bull, the grandmother of my dog.  She was not the cute, cuddly licking your face kind, she was the bat-E36 M3 crazy like you see on TV news and crime shows kind.  Her yard toy was a 18 lb bowling ball.  She would jump on it, then scoot it between her hind legs with her front legs, then run to the other extreme of her chain and catch it with her nose, repeating this until she was bleeding from said nose.  Blood everywhere, and she was having a great time.

She's a bit hyper but a sweet heart............she bounces around and then immediately rolls over and asks for belly rubs. She's also beat up her face trying to get out of the crate sometimes..........and she has somehow escaped a few times. It's one of the heavier metal, 2 door crates. I finally resorted to multiple zipties to reinforce the crate and permanently close one of the doors. 

The 2nd door has two carabiners on it after it closes.  

EvanB said:

My lab pit mix had the same thing. A bandage would never stay on so I just put antibiotic ointment on the tip and tried to steer her away from the walls/tables/hard surfaces when she is really excited (most of the time). After a month or two she stopped doing it enough to split the end and all is well. 

Between that and her cutting her paw and running around like nothing was wrong there was a lot of blood in the house the first couple months. 

I hope so, there are hard surfaces all over in here. Chimney, solid wood dining table, etc. We've even cleaned it up off the washer and dryer.....laundry room where her (and the other two dogs) stay crated at night and where they get their food and water. 

We've thought about cleaning it really well and using Liquid bandage to see if that would help it heal long enough to help. 

Cleaning up blood around the house from her tail has become an every other day ordeal.

Big labs have tails like a steel bar. I don't know of a solution, but I feel your pain. Literally, taking taken said tail to the shins many times over the years.

Maybe you strap one of these to her tail :)

I read that taping some material from a beer koozie around the tail would stay on better. That lasted about 2 seconds. It did get much better after I stopped crating her when I was gone, she would whip her tail into the sides of the crate and really get it raw. I never put anything other than the ointment on though and it didn't take too long to heal. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

And those tails happen to sit at just the right height to knock everything off of a coffee table as they walk by. 

Not sure how you keep a dog from wagging its tail, but maybe some super glue would at least allow the wound to stay closed while it heals?

Zip ties and roll bar padding?

Furious_E said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

And those tails happen to sit at just the right height to knock everything off of a coffee table as they walk by.

Or, if you're a toddler, they're right about forehead level. The kids learn quick.

EvanB said:

My lab pit mix had the same thing. A bandage would never stay on so I just put antibiotic ointment on the tip and tried to steer her away from the walls/tables/hard surfaces when she is really excited (most of the time). After a month or two she stopped doing it enough to split the end and all is well. 

Between that and her cutting her paw and running around like nothing was wrong there was a lot of blood in the house the first couple months. 

I can't stress enough how much blood Mikka (Mika?) deposited all over the place, outside and inside, when she split her paw.  I didn't think a dog that size that that much blood in total.  And it was hilarious how she didn't limp until after she was given a bandage, and then it was like "Oh, wait, I can get sympathy for this!"

(And that tail.  Whapwhapwhapwhap)

This was not at all what I expected to read based on the thread title...

I figured somebody was trying to figure out how to make their car more driftable or to reduce the sideways for safety...

You know, if I only saw the thread title I would have suggested Tinder. 

In all seriousness, I really hope you find a solution.

We have had Lucy for almost two months.

Even with a constantly wagging tail banging into everything, we haven't seen any blood yet.

Honestly I don't think there is a way to keep their tail from wagging so much!

Be wary of Great Dane tails, men. Bad things. When we used to dog watch our friends Danes, before we had pooches of our own, I actually wore a cup in the house.