My 9 month old dog has a spell every evening of heaving breathing, panting, biting his tail or leg and appearing frustrated with himself. It lasts for about 45 minutes and then crashes out to sleep. I am not sure if his hormones are unsettling him or if he is over-tired because it always happens after his evening walk. Any ideas or suggestions ?

It could be allergies. Allergies will cause dogs to do strange things. You need to get him tested at the vet... Plus, you should be talking about this issue with a vet anyway. This problem COULD be neurological.

As lucky said it could be allergies. I know my hayfever kicks off in the morning, then again in the afternoon.

It could also be hormones as you suggested, sometimes when they reach maturity they can become agitated, especially if there are any females in the neighborhood.

Edited part out because I apparently can't read :rolleyes:

Honestly, I would get it checked out by a vet.

I am only guessing as to what it could be, your vet would be able to tell you for sure.
But in saying that I have a male poodle that does something similar, after walks he will chew at his feet and lick his paws/legs. It's only after walks and sometimes he gets VERY excited about doing it. I put it down to smells from the park on his feet.
Since we got him neutered that has calmed down a lot. He used to go crazy for my spayed female after she had a bath trying to mate her but that has completely stopped since neutering.
He also has allergies though, I know he is at least allergic to beef but his chewing from allergies (elbows and front legs mainly) is throughout the day, not just at a specific time.

When do you feed him out of curiosity... before or after this happens?

Once again you have helped. Your suggestion about Beef seems to have some relevance, because over the last few weeks he has started turning his nose up to beef. We have cut it out of his diet since you message, and he has stopped biting his leg, although the panting is still happening. Thanks

That is good news. I know a few dogs who have trouble with beef.
We are pretty much a chicken only household here with some occasional lamb and kangaroo.

Here is a photo of my white boy Brody, see the big orange stain on the inside of his front leg, that was before I cut beef out of his diet... he would just constantly chew at it and lick it... he had a similar stain on the inside of his back leg.
A few months later and no more stains and no more chewing!

The panting could be a lot of different things from mild allergies to something on your walking path to lung problems to just generally being out of breath from his walk.

Brody is gorgeous, thanks for your help. We have put our boy on a no beef diet and hopefully things will improve. If not I'll take him to the vet in a few weeks. I'll let you know on how we get on. Once again thanks a lot

No problem, don't forget to keep us updated and let us know how the diet change goes!

So far, three days with no beef and three days of no biting himself, so far so good. I will be forever grateful to you if this is the root of the problem.

I hope that is the problem, it looks promising! Good luck!