What your dog's tail is actually telling you

A wagging tail does not mean a friendly dog. It means an aroused one, and the difference between "pleased to see you" and "about to make a terrible decision" lives in the first two inches of tail, where it joins the body. Read the base, not the tip. The tip is gossip. The base is the truth.

The only wag that means friendly is the loose one: a soft sway that travels along the back, bum moving with it, the whole rear end in on the joke. If the bum is not moving, be suspicious of the wag.

Height is the first read

Base high is a dog making itself big: high arousal, front foot on offence. Base low is a dog making itself small. Tucked to the belly is fear, no interpretation needed. And a high base with a fast, tight flick is flagging, which owners misread at the park every single day. That is not a greeting. That is a raised flag over a dog that is loaded, and the wise move is distance, not "say hello".

The low, small flick is a different message again: appeasement. Please do not escalate, I am small, I am no trouble. Owners see movement and pat the dog. Do not pat that tail. The dog is not asking for affection, it is asking for the situation to stop.

The helicopter and the sea curve

Two shapes are worth knowing because they are nearly comedy. The helicopter, big loose circles, is friendly, usually reserved for favourite people. And the sea curve, where the tail sweeps out and then hooks back in, belongs to a dog that is planning something. That is the looting tail. "Nobody is watching the bin. I am simply walking past the bin." When I see the sea curve, I do not wait to find out what the plan was.

Straight up and rigid, barely moving, is drive and anticipation: a dog pointed at something it intends to have. In a searching dog, a sudden direction change in the tail means it found the scent. Handlers of working dogs read this all day. Pet owners can too.

No body part means anything alone

One caution holds over all of it: no single body part means anything on its own. A tail reads with the ears, the mouth, the weight in the feet. I wrote about how fast one owner learned this with her Kelpie, Gibbs, whose tail tip bought her a two second head start on every reaction. Start watching the base and you will be shocked how much your dog has been announcing all along.

The Read Your Dog library has the rest of the body, and a Hachi Way trainer can walk you through your own dog's tail in real time.