I know i have read abou this before but i just have to ask again. I was out for the duck opener with the dog. he was working pretty good and swimming alot and now this morning he has a limp tail. i remember reading about his and how it is a type of sprain if i rememeber right. My question is if there is anything that i can do or does it just take him a little bit to get it back on track. my other question is if i should hold him back from the pheasent opener next weekend. what do you guys think.

Seabass,
My lab has the same thing, you can give your dog an asprin,( what it said on-line) and it takes anywhere from a couple of days to 3 weeks for it to heal.
This is my first time having this trouble so I am not sure how long it'll take to heal. She is 17 months old and her tail is a big part of her personality.
My last lab I had to amputate the last 8 or so inches of her tail because she cut it and it wouldn't heal.
So I'll take this over the amputation any day.
WW

Mine too. I think just some low dose coated aspirin and a few days rest and he should be fine, mine is already doing better after two days.

Yep- my bro-in-law calls it "lab tail". It's from swimming while wagging in cold water-happens to mine a couple times a year and takes a while to bounce back but not a big deal.
redhooks

Mine got it this spring after swimming in the river. I was told it was simmilar to a dislocation. It did swell and she whined when it was touched, so it had to hurt. Baby asprin for me.

He has been doing fine. Just kind of different not seeing that tail that always wags. If it is not better before this weekend i guess he will have to sit this opener out for now...plenty of season i guess. He has been sitting on it and it doesn't seem to bother him that much but i will look into the asprin.

Its called rudder tail and with rest your dog will be back to normal in a few days. My lab gets it every year and with about 3 to 4 days of rest he's back to normal knocking stuff over with his tail.

Good luck with the hunt!

So what prevents this? Having your pooch get plenty of swimming in during the summer?

i dont think you can prevent it, it is just overuse and the tail gets fatigued.

My old vet always called it "Pump Handles Tail" like a pump handle on an old well. My old dog's tail would look just like it. He said it was a sprain basically cuz the tail muscles were out of shape. Weren't used to working so hard. Seemed like he'd get it early in year then never again as I suppose it got in shape.

My Yellow was doing alot of swimming on opener so i kinda figured that was the case. I saw him at lunch today and it is already looking better.

Happy to report that his tail is back to wagging shape. doesn't effect him anymore and looking forward to the Opener this weekend.