April 24, 2007
A dog's tail never lies
While a wagging tail is usually the sign of a happy hound, if it's more to the right, then you've got a particularly cheerful example of man's best friend.
Every dog lover knows how a pooch expresses its feelings.
Ears close to the head, tense posture, and tail straight out from the body means "don't mess with me." Ears perked up, wriggly body and vigorously wagging tail means "I am sooo happy to see you!"
But there is another, newly discovered, feature of dog body language that may surprise attentive pet owners and experts in canine behavior. When dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of their rumps. When they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left.
More on the research behind this rump-wiggling theory here.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 24, 2007 08:20 PM
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Comments
One question; when checking for the right or left rump wag, should I stand facing my hound eye to eye, or positioned in the rear--eye to rump?
Posted by: JB at April 25, 2007 07:52 PM
It's Fido's right. We tested the theory out on Bogie, and it's true. His tail wags farther to the right when we talk to him, whacking his right side, while swinging to the left about one-third less, stopping about six inches away from the left side of his body.
Posted by: Mike Lief at April 25, 2007 08:59 PM