a few days ago my husband took our Callie out for a hike, it was rather warm and the terrain is very hilly.  She is rather out of shape as we have been moving and she hasn't gotten much excercise the last month.  Anyway, that night she was exhausted and kept whining, and her tail was 'limp' and seemed a little swollen at the base.  I gave her an aspirin and massaged her back and legs. Her tail gradually improved and after 3 days, she was back to normal, with no apparent lasting effect.  I have read something about this online, called 'limp tail', fairly common in sporting dogs, apparently from overuse and a bit of nerve inflammation.  Has anyone else had this happen to their dog and if so, did you do anything different?  I will mention that her tail is rather long,  a 'european' dock.

My lab, Monroe, has had a serious case of this - also called Swimmer's Tale.  I noticed that he was holding his tail straight down and wasn't wagging normally, then he sat down with it under him instead of behind him.

The vet described it as being similar to a sprain of overworking and pulling a muscle in the area around the base of the tale.  K9 Aspirin and no swimming were in order and he's been much better since.  Apparently cold water aggravates the potential for it.

We call it water tail.  Here's a pretty good description of what's happening.  http://www.geocities.com/ccrhearts/Tail.html

Actually, I think they are using viagra in dogs, but not for what they use it in people.  It stimulates blood circulation.  Gotta ask Dr. Amanda when she gets home...

OK, my wife knows of no use of viagra in veterinary medicine.  Could have sworn I read or heard of it for something...

"Limber tail" is something that happens occasionally with long tail dogs.  Usually it's due to a direct injury to the tail.

In the case you describe more than likely it's just due to physical exhaustion, possibly some heat prostration, and the dog being sore from suddenly getting more exercise than it's used to.

Just like humans if they have been "off" for a while, they need to slowly build back to being in shape.  That is why so many dogs that are mostly couch potatos until hunting season have so many problems when they are suddenly put "back to work" without an adequate opportunity to build up for it. CR