Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Wag the Dog

A recent study illustrates that when dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of their rumps.
When the dogs saw their owners, their tails all wagged vigorously with a bias to the right side of their bodies...When the dogs looked at an aggressive, unfamiliar dog, ... their tails all wagged with a bias to the left side of their bodies.

Dogs, the masters of body language.

3 comments:

K T Cat said...

I've noticed that whenever my cat feels ________ she lays down and naps.

Dr. Zaius said...

What about when the tail wags the dog?

A recent article about apes gives some insight into the simian mind. I take umbrage at the title though - "Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter." What do they mean sometimes?

Kelly the little black dog said...

Depends on how you define smarter. The article I read pointed to a study testing short term memory - the apes blew the humans away.

Its kind of like the line from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where dolphins think they're smarter than humans for the same reasons humans think they prevail - cell phones, digital watches, war, etc.