By Dave Samuel
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The other day, I was walking Cali at the Botanic Garden, following her down a trail, when I noticed her tail leaned ever so slightly to the right. As I thought about that, I remembered 6-8 years ago, I did one of these columns on research about that very topic. When I got home, I looked up that research and also that column. It sounded interesting enough that I thought readers might like to consider what their dogs are saying to them with their tails.
I’ll paraphrase some of that old column and provide some new insights on that research. If you’re a dog lover, and based on what I see at the Botanic Garden, there are lots of you out there, our dogs are very important to us. I mean, very important. Of course, we all believe our dog is clever and smart, and we “talk” to them all the time. Well, sort of. “Cali sit.” And she does. “Cali come.” And she does, most of the time. “David, get me a treat.” And I do. Wonder who has been training whom?
Of course, not only do dogs talk to us (e.g., I always know when Cali wants a treat), but dogs talk to each other and that study I mentioned adds an interesting twist to this. All dogs wag their tails (if they have one, which most dogs do), but there is more to a tail wagging than we realized. When a dog approaches another dog and wags its tail to the right, it sends a different meaning than when it wags its tail to the left. No, I am not kidding.
When a dog feels a positive emotion (like seeing its master), it tends to wag to the right. When a dog approaches another dog that it knows and likes, it wags to the right. It apparently has to do with which side of the brain is activated. Note, I’m talking about the right side of the dog as viewed from behind. The left side of the brain controls movement on the right side of the dog. And the left side of the brain is associated with love, serenity, being calm. The right side of the brain controls a dog’s movements on its left side, and the right side of the brain is associated with negative feelings such as fear, being uncomfortable. OK, I don’t understand all this brain activation stuff, either, but we don’t need to know all that. What is interesting is that a right tail wag is different from a left tail wag. And other dogs get it.
A dog that wags to the right is more relaxed, happy, calm and confident. He/she is in their own home or with their master or with a dog they like. So, if you are walking behind your dog and his/her tail leans to the right, he/she is more relaxed. If a dog has a tail wag to the left, he/she is more anxious, nervous and frightened, and if another dog sees this, they are more anxious, too. In fact, research shows that the left tail wag dog’s heart rate increases as does the receiver dog’s heart rate.
When you’re out walking your dog in a new area, watch the tail. A dog has a feeling of uncertainty when in a new area, and the tail will often lean to the left. If a dog has no tail then it has to communicate with other behavior, such as facial expression or vocalizations. In fact, dogs without tails often approach other dogs with caution for fear of miscommunicating their feelings. I’m not sure how this all benefits me when I’m walking Cali, but the next time we’re out there, I’m going to pay more attention to her tail wagging. Meanwhile … “Good dog, Cali.”
Another study looked at dogs yawning. Dogs tended to yawn more in response to their owners yawning than when strangers yawned. Thus, your dog’s yawn tends to be an empathetic response. Short dog yawns indicate boredom, while long yawns indicate stress.
Yet, another study had dogs watch a computer screen as they were presented with photos of the faces of their owners, and the faces of other dogs in the family as opposed to faces of strangers and dogs they didn’t know. You guessed it. Dogs recognized faces of humans they knew and dogs they knew much more so than strangers. I always knew that Cali could pick me out of a crowd, even on a computer screen. “Good dog, Cali.”
Dog breeds that work in visual contact with humans, such as hunting bird dogs and sheep dogs, tend to recognize pointing gestures more than other dog breeds. In fact, breeds with short noses and more centrally placed eyes were better at recognizing pointing gestures than other breeds.
Here is another interesting study on dogs. Dogs can sense the magnetic field. They prefer a body alignment along the north-south axis. We’ve known for years that migrating birds can sense the magnetic field, but not dogs. Maybe this would explain those rare stories where dogs that were transported hundreds of miles from their home, were able to get back, sometimes several years after they got “lost.”
Dr. Samuel is a retired wildlife professor from West Virginia University. His outdoor columns have appeared, and continue to appear, in Bowhunter magazine and the Whitetail Journal. If you have questions or comments on wildlife and conservation issues, email him at drdave4@comcast.net.
