Dogs Can Express Emotions

Dog owners like to consider their dogs as children, and say they know when their dog is happy or upset. The research article by Siniscalchi et al. has determined dog’s emotions by tail wagging. Dogs wagging to the right displayed positive emotions and wagging to the left displayed negative emotions. Dog owners can now really known when their dog is happy or upset.

            The research by Siniscalchi et al. has determined that dogs like other vertebrates, such as humans exhibit asymmetrically organized brains. This means left brain activation produced tail wagging to the right and right brain activation produced left tail wagging. The experiment was to introduce dogs of various breeds to naturalistic and silhouette moving video images. The stimulus displayed dogs with no wags and wagging to the left and to the right. When the left tail wagging stimulus was introduced, the dogs heart rate increased and appeared to be more stressed and anxious. When the right tail wagging stimulus was introduced, the dogs appeared to be more relaxed and natural. The research has indicated that right hemisphere activation is associated with negative responses and left hemisphere activation is associated with positive responses. The research has also indicated tail wagging could be a way of communication for dogs as a signal for danger.

Zeke experiencing left tail wagging and appears to be more stressed and anxious 

References 

Cell Press (2013, October 31). Dogs known a left-sided wag from a right. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 2, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/10/131031124916.htm

Siniscalchi et al. Seeing left or right asymmetric trail wagging produces different emotional responses in dogs. Current Biology, 2013 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.09.027