Left or Right Tail Wags - Page 1

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/left-or-right-tail-wags-elicit-different-emotional-responses-from-dogs/

Latest research on what tail wagging means to dogs.

 

This idea is getting increasing currency over here too
at present.  I have difficulties with it:  when I look at
dogs interacting with each other, or with humans, I
tend to concentrate on what the OTHER end is doing !
I guess this is true for most of us.

Since hearing about this theory that dogs convey different
messages depending on which side they wag their tails,
I have made some conscious efforts to look at the tail end.
And my problem is, I usually cannot tell what IS a 'right'
wag or a 'left' wag.  They always tend to look alike, as a
'back and forth' wag, to me !

Now I only live in close proximity to one dog, these days,
and he isn't a prime example to study.  Let's just say Taz
would never win any "Dog with the Waggiest Tail" competitions.

When he is chasing something, his tail goes ROUND in whirls;
the same if he is agitated and barking at something / somebody.
The rest of the time I get slow waves, eg. when walks, meals or
biscuits are mentioned !  He does not actually 'wag' his tail much,
and when he does it seems to be pretty evenly disposed towards
both Left and Right.

I seem to recall much the same result across the board when
living with multiple GSDs.  Although then I wasn't specifically
looking for right or left tail-wags.

Never had a lot of trouble reading dogs' body language in general,
even stump tailed breeds,  so I can't really say I feel I have been
missing much.
 

Good point about docked tails hundmutter.  I wonder if they included any in their study? 

Dunno, but John Bradshaw - whose book introduced me to the topic -
mentions docked dogs, so obviously they have been thought about
but I have no idea if that was in the original study.  Here in the UK
the thinking seems to be about proving tailess dogs' inability to get
their messages across properly to other canines.  Not sure how much
I buy into that one, since (a) some dogs are born with a natural dock,
& (b) in exactly the same way that I cannot see any marked difference in
which side the tail wags to the most, I sort of have to wonder if other dogs
are really able to tell anyway.

Very interesting and I will need to watch my dogs' tails more closely now.

Left, right....LMAO..

This article was more about a dog's interpretation of the tail wagging, but here is my observation for today: It's very hard for me to tell if the tail is wagging more to one side or the other and overall the tail wagging on my dogs looks pretty even to me. One time my pup's tail was wagging slightly more to the right when I got the dremel out to trim her nails. She willingly tolerates it, but doesn't love it. Interpretation? Who knows?! Interesting nevertheless.  

Here is an excerpt from the article (I hope I'm allowed to do this):

"When dogs looked at tails wagging to the left, their heart rate increased and they showed more signs of stress and anxiety. The dogs were more relaxed when they saw tails wagging to the right. The results were published October 31 in the journal Current Biology.

Vallortigara emphasized that just because dogs interpreted tail wagging as stressful or non-stressful, it did not necessarily indicate that the left or right tail wag was intended as a communication signal.

"It's possible that there's no communication going on in the intentional sense," he said. It could just be a byproduct of the activation of one side of a dog's brain over the other side.

Dogs may become more stressed out when seeing a left tail wag because "they're interpreting that the dog they're looking at might have higher arousal, or might be more likely to attack," said Lesley Rogers, an emeritus professor of neuroscience at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, who was not involved with the study.

I can say from experience that when a dog wags it's tail in a circle from right to left it means "Hello friend, nice to see you!"  A circular wag from right to left is a "friendly" hello. saying you are my friend.  I have seen this many times.  Now, just tail wagging from left to right and right to left in a horizontal fashion: I would have no way to tell the difference.  Except by reading the rest of the body language: i.e. the ears, posture, lips, standing on toes, hackles, movements, etc.  It is too complex to read by simply the tail.  I will agree, 100%, that dogs are masters of reading body language.  It is how they communicate.  Tail wagging is just one signal to us, but dog probably can infer a lot more than we can.

Slam, so what does a dog wagging in a circle from Left To Right
say to you ?