This weekend I took my Labrador out hunting for the very first time. We were out for 3 days hunting all day each day. We got home last night and Poacher (Our Lab) was running around the living room and he was holding his tail at a rather odd angle. The base of the tail was being held up (Maybe 3" ) but the reast was drooping down. My father and I both can' t remember the last time during the trip when he had held his tail straight up like he usually does. He won' t let me touch it to try and see if something is wrong...

To my question(s) -

Could his tail be broken?

If it is, how serious is our situation?

What can I do to figure out whether it is or is not broken?

only way to find out is take him to a vet. i say it may be a fracture in one spot or it may be broke,hard to say without me seeing the dog.


go deep hunt hard.

take the dog to the Vet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..don' t take chances.

Not much to do but take the dog to the vet. We had a beagle that had a broken tail. Not much to do here but they gave the dog steroids, and a few days later the dog was fine, I can' t remember if the tail straightened out over time or not though.

lol Thanks for the help guys, but no vet needed!

I posted the same questions in another Froum and was told that this is a common problem called " Limp Tail." It' s mainly just sore muscles and should go away in 2 - 5 days depending... Buffered Asprin can be used if the dog seems to be in pain, but it HAS to be buffered.

Sounds like your getting good advice. Take him to your vet and have it looked at. If it is broken, it can be set and a brace applied. Fractures of the tail will usually heal on their own, but unfortunately you often end up with a kinked tail. Good luck

ps I got a chuckle out of your dog' s name.