Tail-wagging and showing emotion

 

My sweet Inca's tail almost never stops wagging when there's a human anywhere near her. People who study animal behavior believe dog tails originally might have existed to help with balance when running or swimming, or for other purposes. But they clearly convey emotion - both positive and negative, and towards humans as well as other animals.

We generally interpret the tail-wagging as a positive sign, and there's something pleasant about a pet who greets you, even after brief absence, with such a visible and encouraging gesture. I suspect that's one of the reasons why most people like dogs. After a few times that we've been gone for a longer period, such as when Inca first saw us after the six months we were in Argentina, she wagged so hard she almost twisted her body in half!

It's interesting that this gesture is pretty unique to dogs. Other domesticated mammals (cats, horses, cows, etc.) use tails for other purposes (such as swatting away flies) but not like dogs.

Tail-wagging isn't always a sign of friendliness for a dog. It can also convey other emotions including anger, submissiveness, or fear. Some who study animal behavior identify different patterns of movement or positions of the tail that correspond to different emotions - along with ear position and other "body language." I'll have to pay more attention to Inca in different settings!

However, as my fellow dog-lovers will likely agree, I #GiveThanks for the sweet devotion of our furry pets and for the way it is so joyfully expressed. I often wish humans were so kind and friendly to one another (including strangers), and that we had some way to express it as visible and obvious as a dog does. A pleasant smile is probably the closest thing we have to approximate tail-wagging; but that also can convey or mask other emotions or meanings. Perhaps we could develop some kind of compulsive hip motion to help us all get along better??