Ever heard of this before...?

Saw one of my cousins yesterday who mentioned he had to put his dog down. It developed some sort of OCD and would literally chew his tail off. The vets advised if they chopped his tail off he would probably start on his feet.

It was really bad, he would literally being spinning in a circle while out on a walk trying to catch and chew his tail.

What got me if that he suggested this started directly after castration? Is this possible or just a coincidence?

Probably just a conicidence. They dog was probably at the age where it would sexually mature anyway and these problems would have manifested themselves as the dog became an adult. I'm not a fan of neutering but very much doubt that could be the cause of the OCD. Just bad timing

I don't know if it would link to neutering. But I have heard of dogs that bite at their tails/feet so much that they have seriously hurt themselves. Tbf though it was always working dogs like springers that weren't living fulfilled lives. What type of dog was your cousins?

I doubt that the castration was to blame, but it could have contributed.

OCD is well known in Bull Terriers & once it's really taken hold it's very hard to stop & sometimes it's impossible without drugs.

How long had it been doing this?

It was a Staffy cross.

I believe they did try certain medications but I don't know the full story to be honest.

I have heard of it before, it can be stress related or OCD. Poor dog

Romeo gets like that about licking things and his feet

Any behaviour like tail chasing should be stopped as soon as it can be as it is very difficult to stop when the dog is older. Toys can be used as a distraction to break the habit.

Sounds horrible poor dog

Poor dog, seems a bit extreme but i'm sure the vet did it for the best of reasons

Ive seen that kind of thing in working spaniels a lot, its not nice to see. The poor thing. RIP

Poor dog I haven't seen any dogs as bad as that, but I know certain behaviours they can get really obsessive about, so I never encourage Loki to chase his tail or anything in case it gets out of hand.

I seen it on an episode of it's me or the dog, like humans dogs can suffer the same inflictions, it's such a shame the dog had to be enuthenised

It's a terrible condition. RIP little one. Our first Staffy, Samson, had some compulsive behaviours but luckily not too severe. There have been some studies that suggest Staffies are at a hihger than average risk for OCD.

This is a good site with more info on the condition: http://www.btneuro.org/