TRIESTE, Italy: Dogs may be playing favorites with their owners when they wag their tails, according to new research.
Indeed, there may be more to the simple tail-wag than meets the eye.
A study undertaken by scientists in Italy now suggests that dogs show pleasure by wagging their tails more towards the right, while negative feelings get a left-swaying wag.
According to The New York Times, a neuroscientist and two veterinarians studied 30 caged family pets of mixed breeds over 25 days, performing 10 tests per day.
The dogs were placed in a camera-equipped cage which precisely tracked the angles of their tail wags. Then they were shown four images: their owner, an unfamiliar human, a cat and an unfamiliar, dominant dog.
In each instance the test dog saw a person or animal for one minute, rested for 90 seconds and saw another view.
When the pet saw the most familiar image - its owner - it wagged its tail toward the right, while the picture of the dominant dog made it wag toward the left side, reported AHN.
The study, which appeared in the academic journal Current Biology, states that the left side of animal and human brains, which controls the right side of the body, emotes feelings of love, safety and calm.
|
“The left side of animal and human brains, which controls the right side of the body, emotes feelings of love, safety and calm.”
|
Conversely, the right side of the brain, which controls the left side of the body, tends to be associated with feelings of fear and depression, AHN said.
As the right side of the body is controlled by the left brain and vice versa, such asymmetries usually display themselves on the opposite side of the body.
This explains why many birds seek food with their right eye (left brain/nourishment) and watch for predators with their left eye (right brain/danger), according to the New York Times.
In humans, the muscles on the right side of the face tend to reflect happiness (left brain) whereas muscles on the left side of the face reflect unhappiness (right brain).
Brain asymmetry in these behaviours seems to be an ancient trait, somehow confering a survival advantage in organisms displaying this behaviour, University of New England neuroscientist to Lesley Rogers told the NYT.
You know, I bet it doesn't matter that much - if my doggy is happy to see me I'll let her decide how she wants to tell me .
This study only looked at 30 dogs - I don't think you can make findings based on this small number of subjects. But it's a nice idea.
From the literature I've read and the human experiments with which I've been involved it really looks more as though right hemispheric activation is more broadly associated with uncertainty. I suspect that the results reflect more the unfamiliarity of the stimuli than negative emotion.
This certainly is interesting. But I say that I have to agree with Horst Werner here - it doesn't matter. When I arrive home after a long day, Buddy wags his tail really hard. I think that shows happiness. When he's intimadated by some strange noise, he doesn't wag at all or he just freezes.
Fascinating. people really try to study everything and put a scientific explanation on everything. maybe next time, they'll have a scientific explanation on the degree or temperature of a dog's wet nose or something like that!
Correct me if I'm wrong but a dog wagging its tail, regardless of the direction, IS a sign of happiness. If the dog is not happy then it would not wag its tail in the first place.
Here's probably another way of looking at it, studies have shown that cats and dogs are either right-pawed or left-pawed. A dog wagging it's tail more to the left for example, would most likely be left-handed.
is there really any truth in this? as far as i'm concerned dogs who wag their tails whether left or right doesnt mean much. they wouldnt wag their tails if they were scared. so what's this left and right thing got to do with emotions?
Ok, now they are putting on meanings on tail waggings. I've had dogs my entire life and I noticed that when they are happy, they wag. When they are scared, their tails are down. And nuthin' beats first-hand observation. Scientists should focus more on important pet developments that could actually be of value, rather than trivial matters.
this is absurd! i dont really notice if my dogs' tail is wagging to the left or right. everytime i get home its very obvious that he is very happy to see me so it doesnt really matter much.
is this for real? i find it quite funny. i can't believe they really studied the direction of where dogs' tails wag. can't they study something more useful next time? sheesh! what a waste.
it seems like these scientists have nothing better to do than study our dogs' tail wags! what's next? how their ears go up or down or how long their noses are? this is really funny!
other animals like cats and horses wag a lot, too. so does this mean that the direction of their tail wagging has a negative or a positive meaning, like in dogs?
I've got to say that this is one useless experiment. they could spend their time on more useful experiments like finding a cure for cancer and all rather than studying the tail wag.
cats are known to move their tails a lot. even while sleeping, their tail moves. so, does that mean anything? personally, i really don't think so. even with dogs. they would not wag their tails when there's negative feelings like danger, threat, etc.