The tell tail clue to a happy dog



Everyone knows that if a dog's ears are up and its tail is wagging vigorously, it is definitely pleased to see you.
Now,
scientists using a robot have found that the way dogs use their tails
is more subtle than we thought and that dogs that wag them to the left
may be more friendly.
The animal psychologists discovered that when
real dogs approached a life-sized black Labrador with a mechanical
tail, they were less wary of it when it was wagging its tail on the
left side of its body.
When the robot's tale wagged to the right side, far fewer dogs approached it in a confident manner.
In the experiments, the researchers used a model with black synthetic fur covering a wire-framed body.
A small motor allowed the tail to be manipulated by a hand-held remote control.
More than 500 dogs were filmed as they approached the model in a public park.
In
the study, published in the journal Laterality, the researchers looked
in particular at whether the dogs were hesitant or not as they walked
up to the model, as stopping or pausing can be a sign of lack of
confidence, doubt or fear. In the first batch of the experiments, 56
per cent of the animals approached the model without hesitation when
the tail was wagged to the left, but only 21 per cent had such a direct
approach when it went to the right.
When the researchers excluded
incidents where owners were present and may have influenced the
behaviour of their pets, the results were similar: 41 per cent of the
dogs approached continuously when the tail was wagging to the left,
while only 28 per cent did so when it was on the right.
The
researchers, from the University of Victoria in Canada, said they did
not know whether the dogs' behaviour was the result of experience or an
inherited predisposition.
But they warned that the results suggested
that the controversial practice of tail docking in some breeds could
disrupt communication between animals.
Animal psychologist Roger
Mugford said it added to growing evidence that dogs were even more
sophisticated communicators than animals more closely related to man
such as monkeys.
He said: 'It is ground-breaking stuff. We know that
dogs, in a sense, have language, but it is more complicated because it
is not just them wagging their tails, but also giving out chemical
displays.'
Surrey-based Dr Mugford said the research reinforced earlier studies suggesting that dogs, like humans, had a left-side bias.
He
explained: 'If you are going to present a signal to a dog, it is
sensible to put it on your left-hand side because that is where dogs,
unusually among other species of animals, tend to look.'It is another
example of the similarity between dogs and humans. They are a lot more
human than we give them credit for.'

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1247380/The-tell-tail-clue-happy-dog--wag-left.html#ixzz0eBisbrvs

This sort of thing always leaves me wondering

me too but i doubt if i will wonder
for too long on this one