Chasing tail

Question
We have a beautiful German Shepherd 3 months old. She is a very good dog, she does the things that a normal puppy does. When we say "no" she listen most of the time. Heidi loves people and has plenty of toys. We do not leave her alone for long periods of time and when we do she is locked in a large cage. We signed her up for a dog training class that starts Oct. 10th. Now to get to the problem that we are having. Heidi chasing her tail all the time and she always catches it so there is no challenge for her. We don't know how to stop her, we don't want to yell at her because she is noe really do anything wrong but it gets on our nerves and we are afraid that she may one day hurt herself.

Answer
Hi Linda,  She obviously has a very strong herding instinct, that is why she is chasing her tail.  You can use a spray bottle filled with water & spray her whenever she starts to chase her tail.  At the same time, tell her "no".  You can also use a Super Soaker Squirt Gun that can get distance so if she is far away you can still correct her.  The problem is that herding is an instinct and instinct overrides obedience, so breaking the problem will not be easy.  You just need to be consistent and give her other things to do to keep her mind off the tail chasing.  Hope this helps,

Dawn