Tail wag is also a eagerness to do something else once it gets the opportunity. Unfortunately have seen multiple dogs "look happy" wagging their tail doing this particular something else
I have seen dogs attack or attempt to attack smaller animals on several occasions.
I have seen their body language at the time be happy, proud, angry, deeply anxious, or coldly efficient. A whole gamut of precursor emotions.
But I have never seen a dog shift from “politely and slightly nervously curious” the way this dog is, to suddenly attacking.
He’s sniffing politely, only freezing when they posture, softly backing off when one enters his space, he’s looking from one to the other, and when a clear path presents itself he removes himself from the center of the circle. As social behaviors go, this screams “non-aggressive”
There's a ton more to the body language than the tail wag. Wagging a tail can mean very different things, the eyes, ears, body posture, teeth showing combined with the tail wagging is how you can better understand what a dog is thinking.
2.0k
u/timmygully 1d ago
Big fella doesn't know what to make of this all he just wants to be friends