Broken Tail???

This past weekend was a busy weekend of long walks and dog park visits. It all began with a walk to Robbie's work on Friday. I needed to pick up the car and run some errands. I decided that Cali could help me out and had her wear her nifty backpack to carry some of the things I was going to need. Nearly 5 miles later we were at Robbie's work. You have to know that his work is one of Cali's favorite places to visit. She is always so excited to be there and is constantly wagging her tail with joy to be in the office.
On Saturday, in anticipation of a much needed bath, we decided to take Cali to the dog park for a good run and some play time in the water. Again, a very exciting adventure with lots and lots of tail wagging. Once done, she was hosed off at the park to prevent the car from smelling like Lake Washington. As soon as we got home Cali went straight to her outdoor tub for a nice bath. Since it is warm enough outside we decided that a cold hose bath would be sufficient and did not plug in the warm water hose.
For the most part Cali's adventures were over. She was a clean wet dog and very tired. She hung out inside the house for most of what was left of Saturday.
By Sunday evening we noticed something was wrong. Cali was not able to wag her tail! It was kind of just hanging and she was not able to lift it for her regular wagging. Thankfully I had heard about a case like this from my friend Meghan. It's called cold water tail or broken tail syndrome (there seems to be many names for it). It has been seen with working dogs most and occurs from excessive tail activity. I never expected this to happen to Cali! But after thinking about how hard she had worked the past few days and the how long her coat was wet on Saturday (which can also be a cause) it made sense. She basically has a strained tail. It is painful for the dog but typically will resolve itself in a few days. My poor girl. I hate to think that she is in pain. But Cali being Cali seems to barely notice it. She's such a wonderful happy girl.
So my next big challenge will be getting Cali to rest her tail...
Here is a link to information about broken tail sydrome http://www.working-retriever.com/library/cwtail.html

~Chelle