When our dog Brutus was 11 years old we noticed a skin tag growing between his front legs. We visited the vets and was told that it was not a problem, and would not harm the dog, but to keep an eye on it.

Two years later, the skin tag had grown into a 4 inch (10cm) dangling droplet of floppy skin that was truly unsightly.

I started to notice whilst out walking with him that perfect strangers would stop and stare at him and children would laugh. Brutus didn't much care either way, if it got him an extra scratch behind the ear he was a happy boy. I, on the other hand started to find it embarrassing, I felt like these people were judging me thinking "why on earth has she not had that awful thing removed".

I kept checking the tag every day for nics and bleeding however it always felt cold to the touch leading me to believe that there couldn't be much blood flowing into it.

You can see in the picture below how large the skin tag was prior to taking him to the vets, you can see it just behind his left arm pit laying on the carpet.

I was worried that he might catch it whilst snuffling around in the garden, thus creating a bigger problem than we already had so I took him to the vets.

"Oh yes, it is a large skin tag isn't it?" stated the vet. Er....doh, really.

He explained to me that it could be removed through surgery but as Brutus was getting on in years he thought that it would be best to try and tie it off! Tie it off.. I asked, what does that entail?

He explained the process telling me that he would tie some thin line (like fishing line) around the top of the tag close to his chest and tie it as tightly as he could to stop the blood flow. It would smart a bit so I had to hold Brutus head so he didn't take a chunk out of the vet.

So, I held onto Brutus, gently talking to him whilst he tried to take side long glances at the vet trying to see what he was up to. Vet man (lets call him Bruce) told me to brace Brutus head as he pulled the line tight. Brutus let out a whimper and thrashed around a little but within about 30 seconds he seemed to have forgotten it had happened.

Bruce explained to me that within a few days the blood within the tag would start to dry up as the flow had been cut off and over about a week would shrivel up, turn black and fall off.

Bruce explained that initially the tag could swell up so it would be a good idea to put him in a t-shirt to keep the tag close to his chest so he did not catch it or try to scratch it with his back paws.

So as you can see from the next two photos, I willingly gave up my superman t-shirt for him to wear, personally I think it looks better on Brutus than it ever did on me, and we waited with anticipation for it to start swelling up.

Holy goodness did it swell up...... it was massive. Within a couple of days it was about the size of a tennis ball and the skin was very stretched around it. It was starting to weep quite badly reducing us to having to change his t-shirt twice a day. My hubby would hold the ginormous tag so it didn't pull and I would switch the t-shirts over.

Brutus seemed completely unaware of what was happening to him, it did not effect his eating, drinking or going for daily walks (yes, wearing the t-shirt - he became part of the elite group, that is, wearer of doggy fashion) and yes it was commented on more than once!

So, after another 4 or 5 days the tag was showing no signs of shrivelling up it was still the same size and still weeping profusely, so it was time to visit Bruce again.

I could tell from his face that it wasn't meant to look like that, he explained to me that it wasn't tied off tightly enough and a small amount of blood was still getting through into the tag and keeping it alive. Time to tie it off again.

Brutus cried with a little yelp, I think the skin near his chest must have been quite sore at this point, but again after about 30 seconds he seemed unaware of it.

Luckily Brutus is a very laid back, relaxed dog, anything other and he may have reacted very differently to this treatment and all the t-shirt changing.

Home we went and continued with the t-shirt changing and the twice daily tag check and amazingly within about 3 days it was black and flattened by Brutus laying on it.

A day or two later whist vacuming the living room carpet I found the deposited skin tag on the floor. I checked Brutus chest and there was hardly any sign at all that it had ever been there.

Bruce admitted to me when we went back for Brutus check up that he had never tied off a skin tag so big before but was pleased with the results. Although he did tell me that there was a good chance that it may grow back again.

Brutus is now almost 16 years old and has never grown another skin tag, thank goodness!!