Speak, Fido, Speak!

Scientists Interpret Dog Tail Wags

Right tail wag means happy. Left means nervous.

There may be more to Fido’s tail-wagging than just him telling you he’s happy. According to a study published in the journal Current Biology, dogs wag their tails more to the right when they are happy and, conversely, swish to the left when they are nervous—and not only that, but other dogs can read and respond to these signals. That last bit of new information comes from researchers working with Georgio Vallortigara, a neuroscientist from the University of Trento, who said, “It is very well known in humans that the left and right side of the brain are differently involved in stimuli that invokes positive or negative emotions. Here we attempted to look at it in other species.”