Tail down?
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?
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?
Comments
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.
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.
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
@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.