(11-02-2016, 10:57 PM)dukealien Wrote: (Wonder if Pavlov ever tried using electrical stimulus to artificially induce a dog's tail to wag... and see if that altered its disposition for the better?)
Sounds like something Trofim Lysenko might come up with.
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Here's an off-topic thing on dog tail wagging interpretation:
● A slight wag, with each swing of only small breadth, is usually seen during greetings as a tentative, "Hello there," or a hopeful "I'm here."
● A broad wag is friendly: "I am not challenging or threatening you." This can also mean: "I'm pleased." This is the closest to the popular concept of the happiness wag, especially if the tail seems to drag the hips with it.
● A slow wag with the tail at half-mast is less social than most other tail signals. Generally speaking, slow wags with the tail in neither a particularly dominant (high) nor a submissive (low) position are signs of insecurity.
● Tiny, high-speed movements that give the impression of the tail vibrating are signs the dog is about to do something, usually run or fight. If the tail is held high while vibrating, it is most likely an active threat.
We can now add another newly discovered, feature of dog tail language that may surprise attentive pet owners as much as it surprised scientists like me. It now appears that when dogs feel generally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of their rear ends, and when they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left.
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Excerpted from Psychology Today, full article can be found here.
a brightly colored fungus that grows in bark inclusions
