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We have recently had a beautiful litter of Great Dane ...
Sent to Dog Experts May 11 07:00 PM

We have recently had a beautiful litter of Great Dane puppies. Two of the puppies have kinks/bends in their tails. Our vet x-rayed the tails and it is not a break, the bones do not look fused. He felt there was a good chance that the tail would stay this way. However, we have had two people tell us they had puppies with kinks in their tails and they outgrew the kink and their tails look normal. We want to be able to give some information to the buyers of these puppies. Can you tell me anything about this condition?

 

Optional Information:
Age: <1; Female; Breed: Great Dane

Already Tried:
Have had the tail x-rayed

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status:  Closed   Value: $9
Answer
May 11 7:07 PM (6 minutes and 39 seconds later)
         
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If the problem does not look like a break (and mom stepping on and breaking a tail is not uncommon in the breed) then I'd not suggest the kink would change.
If the vertebra were not formed right and caused a kink from birth on its unlikely the bone formation would change as the dog growsh.
It may become less obvious as muscle and coat cover the tail.
This is considered a fault in the conformation of the dog according to breed standards in several countries including the US
http://www.akc.org/breeds/great_dane/index.cfm
http://ultramarine.org.ua/pages/standard_eng.php
So these would not be dogs to show or breed.
Hope this helps you!

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NancyH -- Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care -- 99% Positive Feedback on 12949 Dog Accepts
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Reply
May 11 7:14 PM (7 minutes and 24 seconds later)
         
Both of the puppies had the kink in the same place and going the same direction - up. The kink is fairly close the the base of the tail. In the X-ray, the bones looked correctly formed, but overlapping from the side - strangely, the top view did not show them side by side, so it was hard to tell what was going on. This dog does have show markings and until we saw the tail were planning to keep her for breeding. We do not want to breed a problem with tails! However, because we had heard some puppies outgrew it, we were hoping to find out that is was a temporary thing. Sounds like we are going to have to pass on this little girl.
Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
May 11 7:26 PM (11 minutes and 47 seconds later)
         
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NancyH -- Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care -- 99% Positive Feedback on 12949 Dog Accepts
30+ yrs dog vet care & nursing, rescue, behavior & training, responsible show breeding, genetics
Reply
May 11 7:50 PM (24 minutes and 24 seconds later)
         
Thank you for your help. I think you are right about the tail - if we keep her it will probably stay crooked, but will straighten out if we sell her! :-) However, I'm wondering if we kept her to see if it straightened - and it did- should she be bred? My husband wants to keep her and see what happens, but I'm still wondering about responsible breeding - what do you think?
Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
May 11 8:05 PM (14 minutes and 43 seconds later)
         
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I've never seen a perfect dog. As breeders you have to make your choice on which flaws bother you least. I think a tail issue is less of a problem than a shoulder problem or temperament issue etc.
If you look in the show ring you will see in this bred dogs with scars from shoulder surgery, dogs with elbow hygromas, dogs with such straight conformation they look excessively tall etc. So look the rest of the dog over too.
If you have a better female that isn't show marked (I'm guessing you are breeding harlequins which is a tough color to breed) then I'd wait a generation to get the color you want out of a more sound dog.
I've never seen a dog 'walk on its tail' :) so if she is sound and has a nice head and many other good features that might be a reasonable choice to wait and see on the tail. If you have a sounder female who's color might not be as good but has fewer flaws then that might be your choice to be the mother of the next generation.

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NancyH -- Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care -- 99% Positive Feedback on 12949 Dog Accepts
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