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The marvelous, miraculous tail sling for greyhound “happy tail syndrome”

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Our darling greyhound girl Guinevere is a very happy dog with an exceptionally long, rubbery, whiplike tail. When she gets excited (which happens countless times every day) the tip of that tail snaps around at supersonic speed. She has given herself multiple ‘happy tail’ injuries by hitting walls and furniture with that wildly wagging tail. The tip of the tail splits open and sprays blood everywhere, and after the initial injury every strike against a hard surface reopens the wound.

 

Last winter, just before the holidays, Guin gave herself ‘happy tail again. I could count on a new bloody mess in the house every day when my husband came home from work. Guin loves him and is overjoyed when he returns home “to her” every evening. She starts bouncing around and wagging as soon as she hears his car in the driveway. If I didn’t get her outside before she got worked up, her tail would break open yet again.

 

We spent several months over the winter trying to keep bandages on the tip of her tail with minimal success. We could not find a bandage adhesive that could withstand the centrifugal force of the whipping, wagging tail. A day or two at most was the longest we could keep a bandage on. We tried many different kinds of tape, but none worked. We tried taping a plastic hair curler cover to the tail to ‘let it air’ while it healed. That didn’t last an hour before it flew across the room during a play session. We tried putting some foam pipe insulation around the tail tip. It was too heavy–it didn’t even stay on for five minutes before being wagged clear under the couch. If her tail wasn’t so long, thin and rubbery this would not have been so difficult; a stiffer, shorter tail is much easier to keep bandaged. We finally got Guin’s tail healed somehow–tincture of time combined with judicious control of her when she was excited, was what did it that time I think. But in early July of this year she split the tail tip open again, and this time the wound was bigger than ever. The blood on the walls looked like a toddler had been finger painting. Our walls, ceilings, cupboard doors and windows are all spattered with fine droplets of dried blood. Every time I think I’ve got it all cleaned up I find more.

 

We tried bandages and hair curlers again, hoping that maybe this time they’d work. No joy. We tried various sprays and powders that coated the tail tip to encourage faster healing. She simply cracked the tail open again and bled through the coatings. We tried NewSkin, hoping that its ‘brush-on flexible bandage material’ would do the trick. The NewSkin made the hair on her tail tip crunchy, and she responded to that unusual sensation by chewing off all the hair, leaving the tail completely unprotected. The next day’s happy tail incident was the bloodiest on record… I was beginning to fear that we would have to amputate the tip of her tail to heal the wound. But she’s a show greyhound, and I really didn’t want to have to resort to mutilating her tail.

 

I finally turned to the Pro-Greyhound Forum on Facebook, where many racing greyhound trainers hang out. I was hoping that the racing trainers would have some secret method that I hadn’t heard about. Instead, I got the usual set of suggestions–bandages, hair curlers taped around the tail tip, foam insulation, tape her tail to her leg (really? How?).

 

One answer from a Borzoi owner intrigued me. She sent me a link to a Great Dane site that described a tail sling. This home made device pulls the tail forward under the belly between the dog’s rear legs, and holds it there. It uses a strip of fabric around the dog’s waist with a leash clip hanging below the dog’s belly, and tape holding an O-ring on the under side of the tail. It didn’t look too difficult, so I made one and put it on Guinevere. She didn’t even seem to notice it was on, and was ‘cockroaching’ flat on her back on the couch within minutes of my applying it. I muzzled her for a day until I felt that she wasn’t going to pull it off when I wasn’t looking. She never touched the sling once, so after that first day I put the muzzle away. Her tail healed without incident, and in record time. She wore the sling for 14 days. Somehow, on day 14 the tape on her tail was pulled off, still intact. By then the last of the scab had been gone for 3 days, so I removed the sling. No muss, no fuss, no changing the bandage every day or two, and much less wasted (expensive) tape!

 

Here’s what you’ll need to make a tail sling:

 

Elastikon, 3 inch wide. This is non-negotiable–Elastikon is the only tape with adhesive strong enough to withstand this kind of use. You may need to cut it to get it off after the tail is healed. Simply start at the top edge, and cut down the length of the tail, using blunt-ended bandage scissors.

 

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A strip of soft, stretchy fabric that is long enough to go around your dog’s waist and tie loosely. I used a scrap of lightweight, stretchy Spandex fabric that was left over from an old project.

 

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A rubber O-ring 1/2″ or bigger, and a swiveling leash clip. It is vital that the clip swivels. You can get both of these things from a hardware store if you don’t already have them lying round your house.

 

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Sharp scissors to cut the Elastikon. It is rather sticky, so be prepared to clean adhesive off the scissors when you are through. Alcohol and nail polish remover both work well to get adhesive off of scissors blades.

 

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How to make a tail sling:

Once you have all the tools and materials assembled, start by cutting a piece of Elastikon that is approximately 10 inches long.

 

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Wrap it around the dog’s tail, 4 to 6 inches up from the tail tip. You’re not trying to cover the tip so don’t worry about that. This piece of tape is the base to which the O-ring will be attached. Make sure that you don’t wrap the tape too tightly or you could cut off the circulation to the end of the tail! Once it’s all wrapped, squeeze the tape into the hair so that it sticks really firmly.

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Measure out a piece of Elastikon that is 5 inches long. Cut lengthwise up the piece and remove a section that is approximately 3/4 inch wide. This piece will hold the O-ring on the tail, so make it narrow enough to fit through the O-ring.

 

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Carefully insert the narrow piece of Elastikon through the O-ring to about the 1/3 point. Position the O-ring in the center of the taped area on the tail so that the O-ring is underneath the tail, pointing toward the body. Wrap the tape around the tail, passing it through the O-ring again as needed. Press the end down well and squeeze it to make it all adhere to the base layer of Elastikon.

 

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There, that was the hard part! Now take the leash clip and pass the piece of fabric through the loop until it is centered. Tie the fabric around the dog’s waist, leaving some slack so it isn’t too tight. You may need to adjust it if it seems too tight or too loose. Use a double knot when you tie it so it does not slip or untie.

 

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Now reach below the dog and pull the tail up between the back legs. Clip the leash clip into the O-ring. The tail should hang loosely–if it is pulled tightly against the stomach, the sling is too tight.

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Check the tail daily to make sure the sling isn’t too tight or too loose (it can slide off the hips if it’s too loose). Also make sure the tape isn’t too tight, and that the tail is healing without developing any infection. When it’s all healed and you’re comfortable removing the sling, simply unclip it and untie the fabric. Then starting at the top of the tape wrap, cut the Elastikon off of the tail with blunt ended bandage scissors like these:

 

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There you have it–the brilliant, miraculous tail sling for ‘happy tail’! When you let your dog outside, s/he may not be able to get the tail out of the way to go potty. Rita told me that some dogs figure it out, some don’t. If you don’t think your dog will damage the injured tail while outside, then I’d say unclip the tail, and clip it up before they go back indoors. I normally unclipped Guinevere’s tail so she could potty freely. One morning she got past me before I realized she wasn’t unclipped, and she managed to pee without any trouble or mess.

 

As you can see, the sling doesn’t affect normal greyhound activities at all.

 

sling roach

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And here’s what it looks like in action.

 

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Thanks to Rita Rice for pointing me at the Great Dane site that had the original article about the tail sling.

And here’s the link to that site if you’d like to read more about it. http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/mending_a_tail.htm