update

appears the tail was either one of two things:
1) doggie muscle sprain. poor boo.
2) battlecat sank her teeth into him and caused a painful infection.

either way, dr neely fixed our baby up with some dog pain reliever and dog antibiotics, and he's wagging away now.

a good vet is a complete and utter treasure. they completely understand when i come in, close to tears, with a dog who doesn't appear to have anything wrong with him at all haha.

and they don't mind the 293847 calls when he has to stay overnight for anything. :)