do dogs move the tail only when they are happy?

do dogs move the tail only when they are happy?

Questioned by Sciences and Future, doctor Édith Beaumont-Graff, behaviouristic veterinarian and author of the book "Mon chien a peur... 09:24

Questioned by Sciences and Future, doctor Édith Beaumont-Graff, behaviouristic veterinarian and author of the book "Mon chien a peur" is above all anxious to restore the truth. " Fact to move the tail, as well for a dog as for a cat, is often the sign of a tension or a certain excitement and a state of uncertainty: attack or not ". If this behavior is generally well understood by the human beings to the cat, he is him less at the dog. To this animal, the balance of the tail is practically always - and wrongly - associated with the enjoyment. " Certain very anxious dogs move the tail by grumbling for example ", specifies the specialist.

Towards the right or towards the left?

In a study appeared in 2013 in the magazine Current Biology, Italian researchers had even established as a tail which beats more towards the right do not indicate the same state of mind to the dog as the tail which beats more towards the left. In the first case, it would translate a positive behavior (the view of master), whereas a tail which leaves towards the left would be the sign of a negative state of mind (the view of another dog with which he does not get on for example). Better still: this subtle difference would be noticed by the congeners. According to this study, when a canine observes it an other one which moves its tail towards the left, he demonstrates signs of stress and his heart rhythm accelerates. Otherwise, he seems perfectly relaxed.

However, it is obvious that to beat of the tail became a behavior ritualized between the dog and his owner: "the dog uses him nevertheless very often in the game, which he even is an appearance of fight and flight but which gets some pleasure. And he welcomes its master very often by an invitation in the game the answer of which is pleasant because associated with caresses. It eventually stands out as a rite of synonymic welcome of pleasure", explains Edith Beaumont-Graff.

The discretion above all

To cats, the modalities of game between congeners are different. " These activities look like more the predation, a behavior during which the body has to remain rather motionless, motionless to win in discretion ", indicates the veterinarian. It is thus necessary no way for these animals to move the tail, even if the session of game gets them some pleasure. They are thus going to guard this balance in the situations which are for them uncertain and source of tension. The latter precede very often an aggression or a flight.