Why do dogs chase their tails?

[baldguy]

Zelda seems to be having fun.

[DrDan]

1. Zelda's got some ears . . .

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Because they can?

:evilgrin: And it's fun? :shrug: Zelda is a cutie and if chasing her tail makes her happy, that's a good thing, right?

[LoveMyCali]

3. I don't know

but Cali seems to like it too.




He's the only cat I've ever seen chase it's tail.

[Blue-Jay]

4. Because they don't have thumbs.

[VenusRising]

5. Sebastian, my cat, has that affliction.

He's been trying to catch that damn thing that has been following him around all his life.

My favorite is when he catches it and sits on it with his feet pinning it. I never have the camera when he does it. x(

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. You see a tail...

Zelda sees genitals.. I would do the same thing if I thought there was a reasonable chance of me catching it. And by "it" I mean my penis.

[HuffleClaw]

7. because they aren't that bright

unlike say CATS!

[Capn Sunshine]

8. I don't know, but it's better than anything on TV tonight

:)

[Jamastiene]

9. Because it's chasing them all the time.

It's like they can't get away from it. They see it out of the corner of their eye, yet when they turn around, it moves away like it is trying to hide. Once they sense they are getting close to catching it, things can get really interesting. Sometimes, they will begin to run around in circles so fast, they will fall down. Sometimes, they do catch it, but it catches them too. They pull and tug at it and they can feel it grabbing their ass and not letting go, so they soon call a temporary truce while they think things over. After a few minutes, the whole process starts all over again and they do the same thing again.

:P

[chknltl]

10. Perhaps a neurosis...perhaps not

I am a fan of Cesar Millan, "The Dog Whisperer". : http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/
I have watched many of his shows and have read his book. (Which proves that I am NO EXPERT!) Quite often he is called in to aid neurotic pets, in one show it was a dog who was afraid of slick floors, in another the dog freaked out over skateboards and yet another episode dealt with a dog who was a non-stop spinner. Many other dogs he works with are a bit more normal: aggressive toward mail-men or going ballistic over the sound of the doorbell and etc. Cesar says these actions are not normal.

I have no idea to what degree your dog chases it's tail but if it gets to where this becomes a problem for you then perhaps the dog is having a problem as well. In many of the problem cases, (and one answer to your question), the neurosis is actually caused due to a conflict between the dogs normal instincts and our treatment of the animal. We may be acting out of the best intentions toward the pet and yet causing it mental stress without even realizing it.

There are those here in the DU who disagree with Cesar Millan...I have no real abilities to debate them, as I have already stated I am far from expert here BUT one thing he said makes intuitive sense to me and is the basis to his approach: "We are humans therefore we tend to approach dog psychology from a human perspective. Our technique often works fine on humans but perhaps not so well on dogs. Nature has had thousands of years to perfect the dynamics of dog-pack behavior. Therefore it makes sense to treat a dog from the perspective of the dog being a pack animal as opposed to a small human" (This is not necessarily the methods applied by many dog trainers...again, I am in no position to judge who is right and who is wrong, I just intuitively feel that Cesar Millan is closer to the truth here.)

The provided link leads to a blog, you might want to ask your question there. I suspect more than a few of us would be interested in the responses that you may get.

[RushIsRot]

11. It's entertaining and you won't give up the remote!

[xchrom]

12. oh. my. god! -- she is so cute! -- and she looks like her name.