Question for the group

Hi there. I am new to the group and to dog jumping. I am the proud owner, well I guess I should say I am proudly owned by, a black lab who loves to dock jump. He has never done it in competitions but when we go to my inlaws we can not keep him from jumping off the dock. He would do it all day long if we would let him. My question though is, last year after his first day of jumping and then again this year after his first jump of the year, I noticed that his tail looked funny. It will come out about 2 inches from his backside and just drop. You can tell it is very sore as he has a hard time sitting for a couple of days after. Is this a normal thing or is it something I need to have checked out? I have racked my brain trying to figure out if he could have hurt it on something else as he is a very active dog but have come up with nothing. And I would hate to have to take the dock jumping away from him but hate seeing him hurting like that when ever he jumps.
Thanks in advance for any helpful comments I can get.

Newbie and hopefully future dog jumping friend.

Michele and Hunter

Hey Michele,
Welcome to UAD and the sport of dock jumping.
It is called cold tail. Some dogs are more prone to it than others. No one has found a definative cause or a way to prevent it. It is not life threatening, but it does cause the dog discomfort.
There have been postings about it on the forum before, so if you search "cold tail" you can find more info about it.
We have several vets in UAD and they have posted ideas about the problem.

Thank you so much! And thank you for such a quick reply. I will search it now and see what I can find.
I beleive I seen Rogan jump at the Birch Run show a while back ago. What an amazing dog. Watching them jump really made me want to get hunter into this.

Michele

My Labrador gets cold tail. I try to dry her off, and to keep her back warm. This seems to help. She didn't get cold tail at the winter jumps.

We had a problem one time in the winter but have followed some guidelines and so far so good. Suggestions that have helped are: dry dog well between events, keep them walking or moving for a little while after their jumps instead of crating or lying down, we use a jacket in the winter to keep warm as well. Also- we use salmon oil - we have heard other people say they use this and so we tried it as well. For more information about salmon oil you can view the link below in my signature.

Good luck!

I read a bunch of the articles from before and am definitely going to try the fish/salmon oil for him. It sounds to me as if it has several added benefits along with helping with the cold tail. I think we will be going back up to the lake next weekend and I am sure there will be no keeping him out of the water, especially now that the whole dock is in!!

Michele

Welcome Michele to UAD!

We have had an experience with cold tail. Sophie looked so uncomfortable for a couple of days. We also try to keep her as dry as possible during the colder months. We also use a fleece banket and wrap it around her to keep her warm. I don't ever want her to go through that again.