Your Dog's Wagging Tail Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does

Most of us only notice a dog's tail when it's wagging, but my boy Fleetwood has taught me that a still tail says just as much!

As a matter of fact, two years ago, the way his tail was behaving is what tipped me off that he was sick, and I'm forever grateful for that. These days, it tells me when he's on duty, when he's listening, and when he's off the clock having the time of his life.

Your dog's tail is telling you all of that too, once you start watching for it!

I only learned what the different tail movements mean because of my work and training with Fleetwood.

Here's what that looks like on a normal day.

Fleetwood loves the golf course more than almost anything, and he walks down my driveway to get there like he's working security for a head of state.

You'd think a dog headed to his favorite place would be halfway down the driveway with his tail going like crazy.

Not Fleetwood!

His tail goes straight up and stays there, tense and not wagging, and his nose goes to work on nearly every inch of that driveway.

At the bottom, it gets even more serious. His tail gets straighter, his ears come up, his whole body tightens, and he takes in everything around him.

I think he's cleared the driveway to make sure it's safe for me, and now he's checking whether the neighbor's dog is out 🙄.

Then I give him the command to cross the street, and once we're on the golf course, he's a completely different dog.

His tail starts going crazy, the kind of wag that takes the whole back end along with it 😆. What makes it even funnier is that he runs around like he owns the place (please don't tell him he doesn't).

Every so often he stops and stands there taking it all in, like he's standing post. His tail changes again when he does that.

It's a slower side-to-side wag, or he holds it off to one side. To me it looks like he's processing everything around him while his tail reports back that all is as it should be.

Then it's right back to fun.

On the way home, the tail goes straight again while he waits for me to tell him it's okay to cross.

The minute we're back in the front yard, the full wag is back.

Remember how I wrote about Prayerie's smile in my last post?

I used to think a smile and a wagging tail meant the same thing, but I've come to find out they have very different jobs.

The face shows you how a dog feels, and the tail is how a dog talks to you. Wagging is mostly a social signal, something a dog does toward someone.

Researchers in Italy (my pack would like to go international 😂) found that dogs wag a little more to the right when they see their owner and a little more to the left when they see a big, unfamiliar dog that makes them uneasy.

So it turns out dogs have been reading each other's tails this entire time, and we've been none the wiser!

In all fairness, the researchers needed video analysis to spot the difference, so please don't stand in your yard trying to measure the angle 🤣.

What you can see without a camera is how your dog holds their tail and how it moves.

Here's what my dogs have taught me to read.

It's safe, I'm checking: Tail high and still, body tense, nose working. That's Fleetwood on the driveway, on duty.

I'm listening: Tail held straight and still while waiting for the next command. That's Fleetwood at the curb, waiting for me to say it's okay to cross.

Alert, nothing to report: Tail held straight out. Erwitt, my thoughtful one, does this in the backyard, like he's saying, "Hey Mom, I'm on it, all quiet out here."

Relaxed: A loose tail at its natural height with an easy wag. That's Hudson. His tail is always up, but casually, with an easy wag like a light breeze on a summer day.

Excitement and fun: The whole-back-end wag. You know it when you see it. At my house, that's the whole pack when company comes over, all lined up at the door, tails going, usually knowing who's coming in before I do.

Health: A tail that hangs low or limp, or a dog who stops wagging when he usually would, can be a sign he's hurting. When Fleetwood was sick, his tail stayed down the whole time, even while he was trying so hard to be brave. If you see this, call your vet.

The most useful thing I can tell you is to learn your own dog's normal first.

Airedales have a high tail set and carry their tails up, so a tail straight up on Fleetwood is just Fleetwood. On a dog with a low tail set, that same position would mean something very different.

Once you know where your dog's tail sits when nothing is going on, the changes start telling you a lot.

A wagging tail doesn't always mean "come say hi," and a still tail doesn't always mean something's wrong.

Sometimes it just means your dog is working, and in Fleetwood's case, making sure the driveway is safe before he lets me have any fun.

What does your dog's tail tell you? I'd love to hear your "tails."

-Kim Opdyke

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