"When you chase your tail ‘literally’, you get dizzy and exhausted; when you chase your tail ‘figuratively’, you get distracted and confused."

That thought came to me recently while I was watching a documentary about dogs and their relationships with humans.  Apparently, humans bred certain dogs – in effect humans genetically re-engineered the dogs – so the dogs possessed genes that enabled them to be better hunters. For some of these dogs, the genetic changes got out of control and one of the repercussions is some dogs chase their tails excessively… much like a dog could behave if it had obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some dogs spend most of their free time chasing their tails…to the point of their utter exhaustion and human’s annoyance/frustration. To remedy the tail-chasing problem, dogs are being medicated with Prozac [an anti-depressant that, for some people and dogs, reduces anxiety].

I’ve always wondered what drives some dogs to make a habit of chasing their tails.

Now, I have another possible explanation to keep in mind.

And now, I'm thinking if humans had tails then we would see some humans chasing their tails just like dogs do. And, no doubt some of these humans would end up receiving prescriptions for Prozac and other medications.

But, we know humans do not have tails so they cannot ‘literally’ chase their tails at this point in time. However, humans can and do chase their tails ‘figuratively’.

And…

"When you chase your tail ‘literally’, you get dizzy and exhausted; when you chase your tail ‘figuratively’, you get distracted and confused."