That's a bummer,. Besides the obvious medical cruelty of docking: I can tell a ton of what's going on with my dog by what they are doing with their tail, and I don't even speak dog body language like a dog does. Having no signalling device must make dog interactions misinterpreted by the other dog. I wonder if it leads to aggression also.
Heres "The recipe story" part you skip: My dog is a rescue, and not knowing her all her life, I look at her tail to clue me in for what is going on for her.
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Down and tucked under means she was frightened by something. Sometimes its a gate moving in the wind, sometimes its a bicycle came too close. If it stays down for a while and she's pulling incessantly on the walk, it means she gone into PTSD mode and trying to escape...it takes her a while to come back from this :(
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Stretched out backward with the tip up, is like the normal mood.
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Up in the air means she's spotted something of interest.
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Up in the air with tiny wiggles at the tip, means she has positive anticipation of something.
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Fully curled forward and wagging is excitement.
It also is my tool to sort out why she came to talk to me. Picture a cat coming by and making a meow but with a dog voice.
I run through the list of options and watch her tail.
- Hungry?
- Treat?
- Outside?
- Porch?
- Call Mom?
Her tail will move slightly for each, but it will be a large wag when I hit the right one she's wanting.
I can't imagine trying to figure out what a dog with no tail is trying to tell me.
