The Tail of Barry

To continue the saga of Barry and his tail, we were heading in a great direction until we had to reboard the dogs at Oz Ranch for the move. Until we took them back there his tail was almost healed. However, while there, Barry wagged his tail so hard from excitement that his bandage was lost. As a result, his tail opened up again and we never could get it to heal up. We kept bandaging it at home but he kept chewing or flinging off the bandage. Finally, one day, I had left the dogs outside for a good amount of time. I was walking the boys around the side of the house to feed the ducks for the first time when I noticed Barry licking his tail heavily. He was by the fence and I could see a substantial amount of blood coming from the end. I immediately brought the boys back inside, changed my clothes, grabbed some rags and bandages to go out and inspect. Below is what I found:

In case you're wondering, the tip of his tail is completely missing. It was as if a finger had been cut off. I had to immediately apply pressure. Grant was my huge help. I couldn't leave Barry outside unattended so Grant had to get my phone for me, get me scissors and get me some other things I needed. I called Chad and told him what was going on. I told him he had to come home immediately to get this taken care of. With Chad on his way I turned to Siri to find a veterinarian. We drove Barry to a vet where they determined about 2-3 inches of his tail was infected and that at least some portion needed to be amputated. I told them I wanted a substantial amount gone so that it wouldn't happen again. After stitching him, however, they told us they couldn't do the surgery until the following week and wanted to just send him home with us until then. There was no way that was going to happen. They tried to tell us that the stitches would hold and it would be fine. Yeah right. Clearly, they don't get Barry. I had to immediately find another vet hospital that could take Barry right then and do the surgery as soon as possible. Luckily, I found a great place. We picked up Barry from the one vet and took him straight to the other. I had to pay the first vet $224 for stitches that didn't even hold long enough for me to get him out their door. Within the hour of waiting at the second vet the tail was wide open and the exam room walls were covered in Barry's blood because he was so worked up and wouldn't sit still and stop wagging. The vet was so nice though. She couldn't do the surgery until the next day but said we could leave Barry with them overnight at no charge because she knew we wouldn't want his blood all over everything. We agreed that almost all of the tail needed to come off. You can't take it all off or he'll lose control of his rectal muscles but I told her to take off as much as she could.
The surgery was just the beginning though. Barry came home with a cone of shame on that he wore for three solid weeks. He would just ram right into your legs and chairs and walls with the thing on without regard for the damage he was causing. We had to keep him sedated and on pain meds and antibiotics so that he wouldn't wag his tail too much and open the fresh wound. I had to take him for several bandage changes. At one point the vet tech told me that normally the vet would unbandage the tail but because it was Barry she felt it should stay bandaged and protected longer. Yes, that's the kind of dog he is and now he has a reputation. Finally, after several weeks the bandage was removed but the cone was not. They left the cone on so he couldn't lick the fresh wound. At that visit, I put Barry in the car before I checked out. When I got back into the car I discovered Barry had figured out a way to lick his tail with the cone on. I really just wanted to scream at that point.
Now, the tail is mostly healed, the hair is growing back and we are almost back to normal. He still doesn't stop wagging the stump though and just the other day he made the stump bleed by wacking it on the wall while we were trying to leash him. I swear he just wants to torture himself and us or he's so dumb he can't help it. Either way I feel like this nightmare of a tail will never truly end.
Here is the end result (and yes we know what it resembles):