Let me tell you about Jack...
I post a lot of pictures of the dogs and mention their quirks at times, but Jack warrants his own post.
We love Jack. We really do. He also drives us completely insane. He is loud, obnoxious, annoying, in-your-face, clumsy, and completely anxiety-ridden. He's George Costanza in canine form.
His anxiety takes different forms. He's scared of storms. Scared of the dark. Has separation anxiety. The list goes on. Last year, I suppose in an effort to quiet his brain, he started chewing his tail. A tail that is so long, thin and strong, Indiana Jones could use it if he lost his whip. The tail whacks everything and everybody in its path. And man, that tails hurts when it hits you.
So I was seeing streaks of what looked like mud EVERYWHERE. On the walls, doors, appliances, furniture. I couldn't figure it out at first, since we didn't have mud in the yard. Then I noticed the tip of his tail was raw and bloody. Every time it whacked on something, blood would spatter. Thankfully it was easy to clean up even though I still found traces I had missed months later. If Luminol were ever applied to various areas in the house, I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
Of course we took Jack to the vet. This is what happened (note Sandy snickering in the corner):
Unfortunately, this didn't work. Jack's tail is long, his body is long, and he had no trouble curling up and chewing away. Apparently, in addition to being George Costanza, he's also part Ouroboros, only not as badass.
Somehow, he calmed down and quit chewing his tail. Maybe because we wrapped a dishtowel around it and sealed it with duct tape. It sounds awful, but no other tape worked. It didn't hurt him. He just kept shedding it off every couple days. But eventually he stopped the chewing and we put the duct tape away and washed the towel. I'm not sure how he dealt with his anxieties when in his crate, but as long as my house didn't look like the Manson Family had visited, I didn't care.
But now he's doing it again. Two days after we got back from vacation, there were blood streaks everywhere and his tail raw and bloody. Arrrgh! We pulled out the dishtowel and duct tape again, hoping he'd lose interest after a few days, but that didn't happen. Back to the vet he went, but this time, in addition to treating the wound, Jack was put on meds. Not for infection or soreness, but for his anxiety.
Our dog is on Prozac.
We love Jack. We really do. He also drives us completely insane. He is loud, obnoxious, annoying, in-your-face, clumsy, and completely anxiety-ridden. He's George Costanza in canine form.
His anxiety takes different forms. He's scared of storms. Scared of the dark. Has separation anxiety. The list goes on. Last year, I suppose in an effort to quiet his brain, he started chewing his tail. A tail that is so long, thin and strong, Indiana Jones could use it if he lost his whip. The tail whacks everything and everybody in its path. And man, that tails hurts when it hits you.
So I was seeing streaks of what looked like mud EVERYWHERE. On the walls, doors, appliances, furniture. I couldn't figure it out at first, since we didn't have mud in the yard. Then I noticed the tip of his tail was raw and bloody. Every time it whacked on something, blood would spatter. Thankfully it was easy to clean up even though I still found traces I had missed months later. If Luminol were ever applied to various areas in the house, I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
Of course we took Jack to the vet. This is what happened (note Sandy snickering in the corner):
Unfortunately, this didn't work. Jack's tail is long, his body is long, and he had no trouble curling up and chewing away. Apparently, in addition to being George Costanza, he's also part Ouroboros, only not as badass.
Somehow, he calmed down and quit chewing his tail. Maybe because we wrapped a dishtowel around it and sealed it with duct tape. It sounds awful, but no other tape worked. It didn't hurt him. He just kept shedding it off every couple days. But eventually he stopped the chewing and we put the duct tape away and washed the towel. I'm not sure how he dealt with his anxieties when in his crate, but as long as my house didn't look like the Manson Family had visited, I didn't care.
But now he's doing it again. Two days after we got back from vacation, there were blood streaks everywhere and his tail raw and bloody. Arrrgh! We pulled out the dishtowel and duct tape again, hoping he'd lose interest after a few days, but that didn't happen. Back to the vet he went, but this time, in addition to treating the wound, Jack was put on meds. Not for infection or soreness, but for his anxiety.
Our dog is on Prozac.