Canine Body Language 101: "But He Was Wagging His Tail!"

The movement of a dog’s tail is a dead giveaway to their mood, if you know how to read it.

A wagging tale = a happy dog, right? Usually, but not always!

First, check the height of the tail. An upright tail, if wagging steadily, indicates happiness or excitement. When the wagging slows down but stays upright, it takes on a more dominant tone, meaning "stay back" or "I'm in charge". A tail that is tucked close to the body indicates stress and unease. A relaxed tail at the middle height means the dog is content. These signs are harder to notice for dogs with docked tails, but you can still look at the base of the tail to give you some indication.

Content, happy tail

• wagging back and forth excitedly
• body posture is relaxed OR shaking with excitement
• play bow + wagging tail
• possible addition of ‘butt wiggles’
• It’s hard to incorrectly identify a truly happy tail wag!

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Unhappy tail

• tucked between legs

• limp or lifeless
• clamped against legs to protect himself from a sniffing dog
• - if your dog exhibits any of these signs he’s telling you he’s uncomfortable. Try to distract him from whatever is causing him distress. DO NOT bend down to comfort him as you would with a kid. Instead, try calling him using lots of excitement and energy and confidently lead him in a different direction. You want to distract him from the source of discomfort. By going down to his level to comfort him you are essentially rewarding him for showing fear.

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When would you not approach a dog who is wagging his tail?

• Ears are straight up and tensed
• Neck is elongated and head is tall, giving off a confident appearance
• Body posture is still
• Tail is straight up and slowly wagging back and forth OR is completely stiff
• The stiffer the tail is, the more caution you should take
• This is a dog who is alert, on guard and could possibly attack. If you see this body language between 2 dogs, walk in between them and force them to walk away from each other. By making them move, you instantly decrease the tension and divert their attention. If you are approaching a dog who is giving you this type of body language, leave him alone, and wait for his body language to relax.

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There is also new information that dogs use the direction of the tail wag to communicate as well! An article in the Washington Post describes a study where researchers hooked dogs up to heart rate monitors and had them watch videos of dogs wagging their tail to either the right or left side. Read the full article here!

Their results?

When watching a dog wag their tail to the right, they stayed calm and some even tried to approach the TV screen. But when they saw dogs wag their tail to the left, they got stressed out.

This is a little more work than I would like to do, but it can’t hurt to know!