Dogs Communicate Through Wagging their Tails

New research from Italy published in a recent issue of Current Biology suggests dogs send messages to one another through tail wags.

• A previous study conducted by the same team of researchers concluded dogs who are feeling threatened or distressed tend to wag their tails mostly to the left, whereas dogs who encounter something pleasant wag to the right.
  
• The purpose of the most recent study was to determine if dogs are able to pick up tail wag information sent by other dogs. Left-brain activity in dogs resulting in tail wagging to the right means they are having a positive response that invites another dog to approach. Right-brain activation suggests a negative withdrawal response.
• All 43 dogs in the study who watched a video of another dog wagging to the left experienced anxiety and elevated heart rates; all 43 remained relaxed while watching video of a dog wagging to the right.
• The study authors don’t believe the dogs are intentionally sending signals with their tails, but rather that tail wagging behavior results from the way different emotional signals activate different parts of a dog’s brain.
  

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