I saw an Afghan dog today with a bald patch on his tail, on the top, about 4" from his body.

His owner informed me that it was a gland and that it was bald because he was a stud dog.

This I have never come across before, has anyone else?

Christine

I would have been willing to swear there were no glands there particulaly connected to anything to so with being a stud dog Christine! Also I've never seen a stud dog with bald places on his tail, in fact i would look sideways at a stud dog with bald places anywhere!

Regards, John

sounds like a story the vet told them to sell them some horrendously expensive ointment!

As a dog groomer I have noticed on several of the dogs I groom an area on the tail (equivalant to the 4" on the afghan) where there is a discoluration of the ocat and skin together with a loss of hair. I always assumed it was some sort of gland. It also appears to be quite obvious on bull terriers and I have noticed this at the shows I attend (being a terrier person) and it seems to appear in both sexes.

Thanks folks,

It appears that this could be yet another question for the vet next time I visit - hope he does not laugh at me

Christine

Let us know what he say please Christine, I'm getting rather interested in this.

Best wishes, John

My Whippet dog (entire) has this bald patch as well, as do most male whippets I have seen, and several bitches as well I think. I'd been told it was a gland, and thought he wouldn't get it, but it has developed in about the last 18 months- he is 4 years old now. the skin is black but not irritated, and I think it is a bit like 'stud tail' that entire male cats get ( though Alfie has never been used at stud). I'd be interested to know what Longdog knows about it, as she's the Whippet expert round these parts!
Liz

As I have a curly tailed double coated breed I find this thread quite intriguing, is this baldness only found in smooth coated, or dogs with little coat on the tail?

One of my shorthairs has this also. It appeared when he was 10 years old. He has never been used at stud.

Hi Brainless

I have no idea about coat lenght, although Afghans could not be called short haired <g>. I wondered if the owner was having me on which was why I asked

Christine

..i dont know if this is the same but one of my westies had a slightly bald bit about an inch or so down her tail with darker coloured skin underneath - it was a gland thing but SEBECEOUS (oops, sorry 'bout the spelling) glands..

On my US Whippet lists they call this Stud Tail and it occurs in both sexes - it's apparently that there is a glad that secretes, and can rub on this area - Oxy10 rubbed on the spot apparently works. I am trying this now as my 9 month old whippet bitch has just started to develop bald spot (not too obvious, but trying to tackle it before it does.). Perhaps because it was called 'stud tail' by someone they confused it with him being a stud dog?

Wendy

Hi, Occasionally some of myWesties have this bald patch. Its not completely bald, has a thin covering of topcoat. There is no undercoat on the patch but with clever trimming its hardly noticeable. The hair there is often a little discoloured and greasier than the rest of the tail. It only seems to happen when I use stud dogs from a certain "line" and probably occurs in 10% of the puppies that I have kept on, but doesn't really come on until they are approaching adulthood, if at all.

Re. Gland on tail.
Hi My name is JAQ and I am new to this board. I read
the post about glands on tail and may have the
answer to why the term stud dog is used. My golden
that I lost recently developed a cyst on his tail about
4 ins down when he was four years old. This resulted
in a bare patch and also dermatitis which is associated
with serbacius(?) cysts. It never bothered him and he
passed away peacefully of old age. However my vet
said this usually only occured in whole dogs which mine
was so perhaps this is where the name 'stud dogs'come from.

Welcome to the forum JAQ :-) Leigh