Dogs Talk With Their Tails

Dogs Talk With Their Tails. Nothing is more of a telltale sign of happiness than, well, a dog’s wagging tail.

It’s a main method of communication for man’s best friend—but “what about dogs without tails?” reader Leanne Kirby asked in comment on a recent story exploring how dogs observe left versus right tail wags.

So for Weird Animal Question of the Week, we asked dog expert Monique Udell if a pet who is tailless due to breed, accident, or cosmetic procedure has trouble communicating with other dogs or humans.

“It definitely does impact their communication,” says Udell, founder of the Canine Cognition and Behavior Lab at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

For instance, dogs with cropped tails or breeds with short, curly tails, like pugs, don’t have the range of expression that a dog with a long tail has, Udell noted.

But luckily, canines can compensate with other body parts to show their emotions.

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