Have you ever paid attention to your dog's wagging behaviour? Is he wagging left or right? Because recent research shows that the direction in which your dog wags his tail says something about how he feels.
Italian animal behaviourists conclude this after a series of experiments. They had 43 dogs watch videos of conspecifics and their reaction to left wagging dogs (note: if you look at the dog, it is right) was found to be different from that to right wagging.
The difference in behaviour? With left wagging dogs, the dogs' heart rates clearly went up, where with right wagging this did not appear to be the case.
This says your dog's wagging behaviour
In the journal Current Biology, the Italians gave a clear explanation for this: the fact that the heart rate goes up in left wagging dogs can indicate danger and conflict. Since there was no reaction in right wagging, this can be seen as an expression of trust and friendship.
Interestingly, if the tail was not moved at all in any of the videos, this also resulted in an increased heart rate. Clearly explainable, according to the scientists: this could be because dogs hold their tails still in the attack position.
Suspicion confirmed
Whether this news item is really entirely a news item? No, this suspicion had been around for some time. "But this is the first time someone has shown that this also has communicative value," says animal behaviourist Matthijs Schilder of Utrecht University.
"It is also not illogical that dogs that see a left wagging conspecific get restless themselves. There is more aversion in wagging to the left. The higher heart rate of a dog seeing that tells us that the animal is getting ready for action. For play, or for something unpleasant."
According to the animal behaviourist, the wagging tail may also explain why dominant dogs often make a high tail with only the tip wagging. 'Such a dog leaves his opponent in the dark about his feelings,' Schilder speculates. 'He is masking his state of mind.'
