Can anybody help I have a labrador dog 17 months old which i show BUT when he goes around the ring his tail sticks up in the air.Has anyone got any training tips or know of any way i can get him to keep is tail down Thanks

Young males often fly their tails but grow out of the practice when hormones settle but so also do some mature studs - some folks teach a 'down' for the tail at ringcraft by tapping or pushing the tail down manually when moving and giving an appropriate command when doing so specific to the action required.  The theory being they can train the dog to hold the tail correctly during the ring patterns.  I've seen it work with varying degrees of success.

Personally I've found judges to be more sympathetic with pups and older males 'with attitude' and not penalise this providing the actual tail set is correct for the breed.  Also I feel that exhibitors trying to 'hide' this issue tend to draw attention to it more by their efforts than had they just left it up to the judge to assess whether this was caused by a skeletal fault or merely a characteristic boyish/him dog display :)

Were this my dog I'd ignore it!
regards Teri

Oh I've got the same problem with mu Golden Retriever! It is so frustrating as he doesn't do it so much when I walk him in the woods or at home, but on the ring, up goes the tail which I think really doesn't do his outline any justice as he is otherwise such an elegant, light-footed, well-balanced dog. His topline is so perfect. So infuriating when I see the pictures my family have taken after the class and realize his tail is up in the air again!

This is a response to the other dogs in the ring and I can't see many judges taking that much notice, they will assess the tail set and if that is correct that should be good enough.

I dont know what the answer is to this, but I know in my breed at the moment there is a lot of Tail flying which is so wrong!  The breed standard says tail should be carried level with the back or just slightly above.
It isnt usually a conformation fault its a temperament / character thing whichever you want to call it,  and sometimes is more common in adolescent males coming of age!

However from a show point of view this is not correct looks horrid and sometimes agressive, most experienced judges in our breed will knock the dog back or not place it for this as it totally ruins the outline of the dog.
I wouldnt imagine this looks nice in a labrador either !

Tricky one though, can you try and distract him in the ring to look at you and not at the other dogs (if thats what he is doing?) hopefully he will grow out of it

Beth

Hi Beth

> However from a show point of view this is not correct looks horrid and sometimes agressive,

I admit it doesn't give the most attractive outline but in the main it's males which tend to fly their tails and needn't have anything to do with aggression   Just a bit of macho attitude, often part and parcel of the showing fool so desperately sought after ;)

>most experienced judges in our breed will knock the dog back or not place it for this as it totally ruins the outline of the dog.

What a shame - providing a judge can determine that the tail set is correct I'd be extremely disappointed to see any dog knocked for a perfectly natural behaviour.  They're not, or at least shouldn't be, robots.  I'd have one proud of it's appendage any day over one with that woeful 'lights are on but nobody home' look ;)

A 'gay' tail is also penalised in my breed too. The tail set is very important but tail carriage is too.

We have the same thing in our breed and ditto what Jeangenie has said. You read the critiques and see mentioned a lot that the dogs tail was flying too high. Though unless the dog has excellent other attributes they do appear to get penalised for this.. Though its hard to say from critiques whether its all about the tail or something else. As for the critiques you don't really get negative ones..

I've no doubt it's penalised in a lot of breeds, including my own, I personally believe it's unnecessary if the set is correct and the dog is obviously showing signs of particular enthusiasm on the day :)

I've owned dogs and bitches that have been proud of their tails on occasions but very well able to move with them held correctly most of the time.  A good judge should very easily be able to tell the difference IMO and shouldn't penalise it unless having other exhibits which are better than a dog with some of it's natural personality less checked.  If two dogs were of similar merit then yes, as with anything, it could be used as a deciding factor but a lot will depend on the required character of each breed too :)  My own is a proud, elegant, aloof and highly intelligent guarding breed so one on top form and up on it's toes is very likely to be showing off it's tail too LOL.

Hi Sue,

some judges fixate on one or two negative points and can't see the rest of the dog for them - sad but true.  While we each have preferences IMO one should not let a pet hate for a particular failing overtake the appraisal of the entire exhibit.  If faced with two dogs or more of equal merit then yes, it would most probably be the deciding factor, but IMO only in those circumstances  :)  In this instance, if the tail set is correct then it is not a fault but a characteristic of the dog (and possibly only on that particular outing), however if an exhibit of equal merit wasn't flying it's tail then that's different :)

Hi Teri

I agree with parts what you say ie Dogs should not be robots! BUT showing is at the end of the day a Beauty Contest, of course conformation should come first but Judges are supposed to be judging the breed standard , and ours and a few other breeds which ive noticed a lot of gay tails in just recently say "Tail to be carried level with the back"  so I think dogs SHOULD be penalised for this.

It is a shame when a good specimen who looks lovely standing then goes round the ring with his tail like a flag, it looks awful in my opinion. it does have a lot to do with temperament/attitude and like you say a lot of it is male macho attitude which in some breeds isnt something to be proud of.
My breed is a gundog breed as is the OP 's dog , a labrador, these dogs should show the lovely temperaments they usually have .

Beth
,

Of course Rough Collie's shouldn't do this either although a fair few do.  Remember years ago we used to just check them with the chain when the tail was coming up and it would then go down. 

Luckily in my breed as we've never had any tails people are not so strict on this as we don't really know how the tail should be.  My girl thankfully doesn't carry it over her back but some do.

You're lucky meadowhay if what looks most awful in your breed going round the ring is an errant tail LOL.  In mine it's waiting for how long some of them will take to do the full circle before being lapped by half the class (for the second time ) ;)

Really Teri? Lol thats funny, you got me thinking now what breed you are talking about!

BSD - a breed, across the four varieties, which in comparison to many other pastoral breeds is square in body shape and should have moderate angulation.  Guess what - some have become minimal in front assembly with result of lots of energy wasted on teensy, tiny, pitter-pattering and tip-toing movement of limbs but very little ground actually covered .... not pretty, not practical, not correct so not funny ;)

ooh Belgian Shepherds! I pestered my mother to have one of these for years from the age of 10! when they were scarely known, I wanted a groendael (excuse the spelling) beautiful dogs.
I have watched them at several shows and noticed the little dainty stepping pitter pattering at the front, I thought that was correct! 

I stand corrected, but they are very beautiful (not seen any of these with flying tails yet)