We all know that if your best friends ears are up and its tail is wagging like a crazy thing, then it's very, very pleased to see you. I know that's what I do !


A study by scientists now concludes that if one of us lovely doggies are wagging our tails to the left, it's a sign that we are happy and approachable.

The animal psychologists used a life sized robodog to see what happens when other dogs approached it, and found that if the robodog was wagging to the left then most dogs would approach with no fear. However if the tail wags to the right then they were much less confident in their approach.

They used over 500 dogs in the trial outside in a public park.

56% of the dogs that approached the robodog greeted it without hesitation when the tail was wagging to the left, but only 21% did so while the tail wagged to the right.

The researchers, from the University of Victoria in Canada are reported to have said: they did not know whether the dogs' behaviour was the result of experience or an inherited predisposition.

But they also warned that the results suggested that the controversial/terrible practice of tail docking in some breeds could disrupt communication between animals.

Animal psychologist Roger Mugford is reported to have said: "this adds to growing evidence that dogs were even more sophisticated communicators than animals more closely related to man such as monkeys".

He said: 'It is ground-breaking stuff. We know that dogs, in a sense, have language, but it is more complicated because it is not just them wagging their tails, but also giving out chemical displays.'

Surrey-based Dr Mugford said the research reinforced earlier studies suggesting that dogs, like humans, had a left-side bias.

He explained: 'If you are going to present a signal to a dog, it is sensible to put it on your left-hand side because that is where dogs, unusually among other species of animals, tend to look.

'It is another example of the similarity between dogs and humans. They are a lot more human than we give them credit for.'

Like we all didn't know !!!! but it's an eye opener for all of the doglles (non dog people)

so what do we make of this


This is a left tailed Newshound signing off
WOOF

IN DOG WE TRUST