Now this might sound like a tall 'tail', but researchers have discovered that the way your dog's tail wags could be an indicator of how happy they are.
We all know that a dog with a wagging tail is a happy one but now animal psychologists in Canada have discovered that dogs whose tails wag more to the left than to the right are happier beasts, the UK's Daily Mail reported.
Using a dog-sized robot disguised as a black labrador, as ridiculous sounding as that is, the researchers found that when real dogs were encouraged to approach it, they were less wary of the strange contraption when its robotic tail wagged to the left.
A small motor in the body of the wire-frame dog allowed the researcher to manipulate the tail by a remote control.
To test the reactions of the dogs, more than 500 were filmed approaching the robot to see how they would react depending on whether the tail wagged to the left or the right.
The study, published in the journal Laterality, found that 56 percent of the animals showed no fear as they approached the left wagging robot dog, compared with just 21 percent of those walking up to the contraption when its tail wagged to the right.
The researchers, from the University of Victoria in Canada, said they did not know what caused the dogs' predisposition to the left, but warned that the controversial practice of docking some animals' tails could disrupt their communication.
"It is ground-breaking stuff," UK animal psychologist Roger Mugford told the Daily Mail.
"We knew that dogs, in a sense, have language, but it is more complicated because it is not just them wagging their tails, but also giving out chemical displays," he said.
"If you are going to present a signal to a dog, it is sensible to put it on your left-hand side because that is where dogs, unusually among other species of animals, tend to look."
Your say: Is your dog a happy left wagger? Give him a pat and share your thoughts below.
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