Suspect “limber tail syndrome” if your whippy-tailed dog stops wagging.

by C.C. Holland

This is the normal tailset of Jackol, a three-year-old Rottweiler/Shepherd-mix. Last April, he suffered “limber tail” (right) after a four-hour car ride and a half-day romp on a beach. Photos courtesy Dr. Elaine Coleman and Jeremy Collins, Auburn University.

One day last summer, Lucky, my normally exuberant mixed-breed dog, returned with my husband from an off-leash hike exhibiting little of her boundless energy. She made a beeline for her bed, so we joked that she was out of condition; she’d had knee surgery six months earlier and we assumed she hadn’t fully regained her stamina.

But as the hours ticked by and she continued to show little interest in moving, we got concerned. She changed positions very gingerly and seemed to have a hard time sitting and lying down. Worse, we couldn’t even coax a single happy tail thump from a dog who usually wielded that appendage with…

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