Tail Chasing: Learn How Your Dog Copes With Confusion
Dogs who chase their tails aren’t necessarily as happy as they appear. When they don’t know how to deal with a situation, such as meeting a strange dog, chasing their tails acts as a distraction. It buys them time while they think about what they’re going to do next.
This sounds like a silly way to cope with confusion, but people do similar things. It’s called displacement behaviour. Suppose you’re having an internal debate about whether to complain about the service in a restaurant or just to keep the peace and keep eating. While you’re making up your mind, you may rap your fingers on the table or fiddle with the napkin.
The physical activity is a stalling tactic, and it helps dispel some energy at the same time. Dogs who chase their tails may be doing something similar. Any stressful situation can lead to tail chasing. Dogs aren’t able to say, “Hey, take a break; it’s stressful”. Instead, they turn to a behaviour they know, as a way of calming themselves.
Dogs who chase their tails all the time may have a compulsive personality disorder. One clue is whether they do other odd things as well. For example, dogs who chase their tails also may chase shadows or the moving sunlight on the carpet. Or they’ll groom themselves constantly. Compulsive behaviours can be quite serious, and often need medical treatment.
Chasing Their Pain
Dogs do a lot of things that are utterly mystifying to people, but sometimes the underlying reason is the simplest one imaginable. Some dogs chase their tails because they hurt, and they want to give them a lick and bite for relief. Sometimes, a dog gets her tail caught in a door, stepped on, or injured in a fight, and no one even knows it’s wounded until they call their vet because they’re worried about the tail chasing. Once the problem is taken care of, the tail chasing will stop as well.
It might seem like harmless entertainment to watch dogs chase their tails, but it’s something that shouldn’t be encouraged.
It’s best for your dog if you work on distraction techniques if they start chasing their tail. Begin by simply encouraging your dog to stop the behaviour and reward them when they do.
