ttps:////»https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd»>
Science still does not have a definitive answer to this question, but experts assume that, by doing this, the dog is spreading its pheromones (aromatic hormones with which animals communicate), which are exhaled through the anus region. “We believe that the animal releases an approach pheromone, implying that that person or dog is accepted by it”, says psychobiologist Sílvia Helena Cardoso, from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). But, contrary to what many people think, dogs don’t just make this gesture to express joy. “There is a tail wagging that you see in dominant dogs that expresses tension and threat. It is done with the tail well raised, bent towards the back and with short, quick movements”, says psychologist César Ades, from USP, a specialist in animal behavior. On the other hand, a dog that is afraid or submissive on a date can put its tail between its legs, in a way of censoring the very odors that denounce it.
The most common wag, the friendly one, is done with wide open movements of the tail, which swings at the height of the rump.