Tail down?

Kitagrl

My akita is nearly a year old (couple more weeks). He has always been a very quiet and to-himself type of akita, although he is a VERY good boy. He gets SO many compliments at the dog park for just being beautiful and well-mannered. I'm not sure exactly when it began, but he walks around the house more and more with his tail hanging down. If he gets excited or happy, he flips it back up in a nice curl, so I know it's not broken....but otherwise if he's just wandering around the house, sniffing around, or even eating or just doing mundane everyday stuff, he carries it down. My breeder is a little concerned, since none of her dogs does this at all. He's very lazy, so I wonder, can this be a "lazy" thing? Just sort of a laid-back, lazy, unconcerned body language? Sometimes if I notice it down I'll go flip it back up, and it stays curled for a minute and then it slowly lowers back down, like its just too much trouble to keep it up. LOL. His other body language does not show any evidence of being unhappy or afraid or anything like that. Of course if he is playing, it is curled nice and tight.

Can this just be personality, or does he need a good vet check? He also has never had a huge super big appetite, always eats the low end of what he should have, and VERY picky....but again, that has been since the day he was born. In his litter, he would sit by himself until he noticed his littermates were done at the puppy food bowl, and then he would sort of ramble up there and eat whatever they happened to leave. Silly guy.

Anyway, what do you think?

Crispy

I've mused on this before. My Malamute will only curl his tail if we're walking or if he's really focused on something. In the house, it's almost always hanging straight down.

I wouldn't be worried about him if it's just that his tail is down. I kind of think of it like a smile and a frown - it's not hard to keep either expression, but switching them constantly can be a pain!

As long as he's acting normal otherwise, he's probably ok. Of course, you can always get him checked out if you're worried... but if it were me and my dog was acting normal, I'd let it slide.

jellyfish

haha, sounds like personality. Toki has his tail down when he is begging for food, like he is trying to make himself look as pitiful as possible, he is so manipulative and smart, lol!

I wouldn't worry. It honestly just sounds like he is a very bored or/and lazy boy. If he had his tail down and it was accompanied by him being stiff, or whining, or whatever else that doesn't indicate a calm, relaxed dog, then I would be concerned. But he seems relaxed and calm, so it sounds just like he doesn't feel like putting it up.

TheWalrus

Most of the NK I've had walk around with their tails down around the house. I think they're just kind of bored and relaxed.

tajo

Yes, i have the same experience with my JA, when he is relaxed and he moves slowly through the house his tail is down. When he increases the speed of walking then hi tail comes up.
But the mos funny thing is when he runs at full speed, his tail stays like an arrow, it looks like in an aerodynamic position

slkblaze

My Shiba would do that until she hit a little over a year, then she started keeping it up all the time (even whilst eating where she always used to slowly lower her tail). She seemed to just grow into her confidence, and now she keeps her tail up for everything. My JA just turned 8mo and she lowers her tail like your puppy does randomly. Most of the time it's up, but when she's standing around with nothing to do with herself it will drop. I'll go flip it back up and it will usually stay up if she engages in something. If she stays standing bored, it will drop again in a bit though xD.

@jellyfish Sakura will lower her tail when she's begging for fod too xD. Not at first, but if her begging goes unacknowledged then it will lower slowly as she rests her entire head weight on whatever surface or body part is the most easily accessible xD.

Kitagrl

Oh good, I feel better! His breeder was really surprised and said none of her dogs ever carries their tail down unless they aren't feeling well or if they are nervous. But I have really watched him when his tail is down and generally speaking, it seems to be, yeah, times when he is bored, or just relaxed, hanging out, etc. He was just outside and we were walking around...he found a wood bee of some sort and started chasing it, and then the bee flew too high so he stopped like "Oh, forget it" and then sort of just stood there casually looking around, lowering his tail and just hanging out, looking around, just sniffing the air and enjoying being outdoors. He has his tail down a lot in the house too. But at the dog park my husband says his tail is up all the time there. And if he is happy or alert, it's up. Anyway, cool....he is a very lazy boy and does get very bored at times, so I guess it's just "him"! He's been doing it more instead of less though...as a puppy he kept it up a lot more than now. I guess he is figuring out that he is more comfy with it down. Its okay though....I don't ALWAYS need to see his butt-hole, anyhow!