Tail

Importance of the tail in dog's life is huge.

1. It helps a dog to keep its balance especially while running, also when walking over narrow surfaces, wagging the tail from one side to the other helps keeping the balance.

2. It is important in communicating and expressing feelings. Dogs do not wag for no reason, which means they do not wag their tails when they are alone. They can make a short wag just as we leave them but they will quickly relax it. One should think they wag their tails because of the ball and playing with it, but the truth is they do it because of us or other dogs or animals. One month old cubs will start using it as one of the means for communication.

Tail expression has two elements for sending signals: position and movement. One Should not disregard the shape of the tail while signals are being sent. Movement is crucial since the eyes of a dog are more sensitive to movement than to details and colours.

There is a common mistake, made year after year, decade after decade, that as long as a dog is wagging its tail it must be happy. But not all wags represent joy.