Why is my Golden Retriever chasing his tail and pulling the hair out and eating it? He won't stop!?

Question

My Golden Retriever runs around in circles chasing his tail and pulling the hair out of it. Then he eats it. He seems obsessive about it. We try to get him to play games or calm down but he eventually just goes right back to doing it. He is being fed well, he has lots of toys around and we play with him. This just started about 6 months ago but now he does it like 10 times a day. He does not have fleas (he was just at the vet and has a flea collar and takes Frontline). He is not biting it to scratch it because he is just going for the hair and not the tail. We brush it so there are no knots. He has allergies. He seems to have sensitive skin. But I don't know how to stop this behavior.

Answer 1

My dog used to do that too. She'd rip out chunks of fur on her tail until I thought she would have a bald tail! We took her to the vet and asked what we should do and the vet gave us medicated shampoo and conditioner that we have to use about once a month. It helped my dog A LOT and I think you should talk to your vet about it.

Answer 2

You may try getting something that soothes canine skin and putting it on his tail. If it isn't a skin issue, it could be just a bad habit like nail biting. Find something safe but distasteful and put it in the spot so he doesn't want to put it in his mouth! Can't hurt to try!

Answer 3

Could be hot spots, nervous tick, or another type of an allergy take to the vet before it gets even worse.

Answer 4

He may have allergies, my dog does the EXACT same thing and it is because she has allergies. I rub her down with baby oil and that seems to help. Good Luck!

Answer 5

He may have obsession compulsion disorder..

http://dogs.about.com/cs/disableddogs/a/ocd.htm