Dog biting his tail

[kwicky]

Why does our terrier keep spinning round to bite his tail? After applying a neck collar this practice stopped. But when it was removed the biting carried on. In fact he has also taken a fancy to one of his hind legs and it is very raw. Any other measures to stop this would be welcome.

[Annlinda]

If your vet cannot find anything physically wrong with his tail or leg I would suggest that his behaviour is that of a dog under stress.Is he bored?left home alone?not excercised enough? Terriers need to be kept occupied.I have 2 Jack Russell's who are always busy in our large garden or in farmer friends barns going after vermin.

[drchasuble]

I've got a one year old JR who chases her tail quite often too. I've had JRs for the past 20 years and have never noticed this before. However all the previous dogs have had docked tails but the current one has a long tail so I don't think it's boredom in her case, I think it's just the fact that it's there and she keeps seeing it out the corner of her eye and she naturally does the terrier thing of chase and kill.
She mainly does it if she gets overexcited like when I get home. It's either the tail chasing or licking the cat in the face or biting my dachshund's little stumpy legs. She ain't fussy.

[lafrancaise]

Isn't this a sign a worms?

[lafrancaise]

'of' worms. Sorry

[kwicky]

It is a Jack Russell. I'm worried about the self mutilation...he chews his leg just as if he has been given a bone. He had a snip last year.

[lankeela]

Try googling Obsessive compulsive disorder. It is a habit thing.

If you can break the cycle, i.e. have him on a lead when you are watching TV and get him to lie down, or give him something he can chew on (other than his leg). As Annlinda said he needs plenty of exercise so he is tired when he gets home.

The biting of the back leg could be a lick granuloma, which is a difficult cycle to break, they chew, it irritates, so they chew etc. Try some anti chew spray (make sure its one you can use on open wounds).

[wee-janine]

We have an eighteen week old JTR, Che, who chases his tail. It's as if he forgets it's there and this thing just keeps creeping up on him when he is least expecting it. It catches up with him all the time and it is always a surprise. Stupid dog but we all love him to bits.