A Dog's Tail Never Lies
It sure doesn’t but unfortunately us humans don’t always know what it’s saying. Countless times I’ve heard people say “but their tail was wagging so I don’t know why they lashed out?” Well, because a wagging tail doesn’t always mean they’re happy.
Dogs communicate energy and body language and a major component to their body language messaging is their tail. Their tail tells us a lot of their opinion on any matter – high set rigid tail is typically a dominance cue and a low tucked tail is a submissive cue.
When you’re out on a walk, take notice of your dog’s tail when they’re super calm and just with you. Not a care in the world. Depending on their breed it’ll probably be looking like an extension of their spine on a slight angle towards the ground. Nice and relaxed.
Then, as your dog notices something change in the environment, look at their tail again and observe how it’s changed. As you get closer to this new thing (like a person walking towards you) keep learning from your dog’s tail.
Is it getting higher? Or lower? What do they do next? Growl? Start full body wiggling? Trying to bolt?
Piece it all together and you’ll start to learn their cues.
Type of tail also has to be considered. Curly tailed dogs will not wag like a Golden Retriever but they still “talk.”
Garth, being an Akita crossed with a Norwegian Elkhound is getting curly-tail DNA from both parents. What I’ve noticed about his tail is when he’s relaxed and happy wandering around, it’s still curled but it’s looser – almost like side bangs circa 2009. When there’s something in the yard that needs to be investigated, it’s a tighter curl and depending on the severity of the situation, that has its own tightness.
What about the dogs with no tails? Well, I found an interesting study done at a dog park:
Out of 431 encounters, 88% was a typical greeting followed by play and 12% contained an aggressive element. Out of the 49 dogs that had an aggressive encounter, 53% of them had docked tails. This study tells me that even dogs have trouble speaking dog when there’s a missing part – usually the part that clearly sends the message of their opinion, passive or otherwise.
I’m personally on the fence about tail docking – logically there’s no reason for my future Rottweiler to have a docked tail, and it does help them communicate better with their own kind, so why take that away from any dog? But if we ask my ego, oh she loves the look of a docked tail on a Rottweiler. Well, really, any of the breeds that typically have them in the show ring. Yet I’d be appalled to see a Siberian Husky with a docked tail….so, is it something I’m attracted to because it’s familiar or is it solely an image thing?
Excuse me while I overthink this…