The tale of the limber tail

I am scratching my head how my toy breed dog has come down with a hunting dog problem. We got up north on Wednesday, and as I put Tiny Dog on the ground after our drive, I noticed her tail was limp, that she could not lift it. She didn’t cry when I touched it, but it had a patch of raised fur an inch down from the base.

This is my lap in the car.

I have seen this before in another of my dogs, a lab cross, after he swam in a cold creek. His tail presented similarly: non-painful, but almost paralyzed. His tail resumed its upright wagging self in a week or so, the same as before. It’s called limber tail, cold tail, dead tail, rudder tail and broken tail for its appearance, from an injury to the coccygeal, or tail muscles.

So how did this happen to Tiny Dog: muscle soreness? reaction to cold weather? It only troubled her outside when she could not lift her tail to poop. She looked confused and made tight circles in the grass. 

I suppose it does not matter how it happened, as long as she recovers. She’s known at work for her constant cheer, that tail vertical and ticking back and forth. At the cabin she continued to wrestle Wrennie in the open space of the living room, joyful in the extra square footage of carpet, each taking turns at bowing and tackling. 

No snow, no snowshoes. But that wind off the lake will chill ya.

After a few days, she had more of an upright appendage, with a slow and droopy wag, less forlorn but floppy, and still befuddling her in the yard.