When is a dog's wagging tail not a happy sign?

When is a dog's wagging tail not a happy sign?

Tails and their wags just like a human mouth and smile can show a range of moods from happy to anxious. Broad tail wags combined with a relaxed muzzle and lips show friendliness. A fast tight tail wag with rear end down of the dog down shows anxiety. When a dog is laying on his back he is not always signally scratch my belly.
Just like kid giggling kid in a tickle fight yells “uncle!
you win”, when your puppy lays on their back with their tummy exposed and gives a fast little wag, your dog is saying "I am submissive." "You win."

In most breeds, when a dog is walking and holds his tail high he is showing dominance. Some research on dog body language even shows wag side difference's for different emotions. When your dog is really happy the tail goes more to the right and if your dog is fearful and anxious the tail wags more to the left. Do a baseline test for your dog to see if you see a wag difference. It is really interesting to me as a body language expert because a dogs tail shows emotions in a similar way that a humans gestures show emotions and people have a right side left side preference. Fear and anxiety more to the left. To read more about about right hand bad left hand good gesturing type in Gestures on this blog.



Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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Does a Wagging Tail Mean My Dog is Happy?

Does a wagging tail mean your dog is happy?

Dogs often wag their tales when they are anxious and stressed and they use a tale wag with other dogs t show they are submissive. Though most cartoon dogs wag there tail in happiness. Thinking a wagging tale on your dog always means it happy is the most common misconception you can have when reading your dog.

Just as there are many meaning for a human’ smile depending on its speed and how it’s given, there a many meanings for a dogs tail wag depending on its speed and the way it carried. There are over fifty different types of smiles in humans. We smile not only when we are happy but when we are feeling a multitude of other emotions as well. Dog’s tails also communicate many different things.
. Happy dog tail wags differ between breeds. Moreover, just as humans have different personalities and different smiles each dog has his own personality and different wags. So how do you know your dog is giving a happy tail wag?

A good first step is noticing when you dog have a reason to be happy and noticing his wag. How high it is held, the breath of its swing. Catching your dog in a happy moment will help you get what we call a "norm" for your dog. Also note breed and personalities difference first. Consider the general guidelines for reading a tail wag to see if your dog is truly happy, (I have step-by-step instructions for reading a real human smile on my website. www.Pattiwood.net

A Sincere happy smile makes you approachable. In human body language it says “I am friendly I am submissive." and "I respect you, and won’t hurt you.
A dog’s happy tail wag says, “I respect you I am submissive and know that you won’t hurt me.”
A happy sincere smile goes all the way up the face to cheeks the eyes and the brows moving like a wave
A dogs happy tail wag, involves not just the tail it typically also involves the rump that lowers and swings the hips with the tails swing.
A broad smile on a human face says I am friendly.
A broad tail wag says the same thing.
A narrow tight smile says, “Don’t bother me.”
Just as dog’s tail held high over the back with very narrow tight short side to side at high-speed tail movements say, “I'm stressed." or "Back off."

I think it is about time I go give Bo the wonder dog a little treat so I can see his truly happy wagging tail.

As the national spokesperson for Pup-Peroni, I am studying the similarities and differences between human body language and dog behavior.



Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
I have a new quiz on my YouTubestation. Check it out!
YouTube- YouTube - bodylanguageexpert's Channel

It is against the law to smile on your drivers license?

According to USA Today four states have adopted a 'no smiles' policy for driver's license photos. It turns out, if someone smiles it is hard for photo recognition software to match their faces with the photo records so they don't know whether someone is trying to fraudulently get a driver's license. I find it fascinating that the government can force people not to smile.If you have read my research and articles on smiling on my website http://www.pattiwood.net/article.asp?PageID=2570 or the chapter on smiling in my book, you know that you can use over eighty different facial muscles to smile and that we typically see it as a spreading and upturning of the lips. It makes sense that a smile would make a face on a driver's licence hard to recognize. A smile changes the face significantly enough that it can be detected and recognized after three seconds from a great distance - 300 feet, or the length of a football field. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Our ancestors needed to smile.
Though they did not attend a lot of cocktail parties where they needed to smile and make small talk they did run into other cavemen they did not know. So they smiled as they approached a stranger to say, “I am harmless. Don’t pick up your spear and kill me.” In fact, it is the oldest form of expression to show a desire to cooperate. So even when the smile was a football field away, the caveman knew the approaching caveman (or woman) was safe and that he shouldn’t be afraid.
Some states say that smiling doesn't affect their photo recognition software, so it is still okay to smile in Pennsylvania though not in Illinois. If I had to spend winters in Chicago I wouldn't be smiling anyway. I realize that checking photos reduces fraud, but for some reason it does feel a little 1984 Big Brother is watching you scary to know that all those photos are checked. I think that in the future we will move to a system of muliple forms of photo ID and then to chips that store a video of us moving and talking for identification.
If you would like to read the entire news story, I've included it is below.

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
Stopping driver's license fraud is no laughing matter: Four states are ordering people to wipe the grins off their faces in their license photos.
"Neutral facial expressions" are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That means you can't smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow.


LICENSE FRAUD: States take steps to cut down fake IDs

The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity.

But there's a wrinkle in the technology: a person's grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Carnegie Mellon University
Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," says Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.

Elaine Mullen of Great Falls, Va., bristled at the policy while renewing her license until she heard the reasoning. "It's probably safer from a national-security point of view," she says.

Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. "You just can't grin really large," Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says.

A total of 31 states do computerized matching of driver's license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions. "People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter says.

In Illinois, photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999, says Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services.

Contributing: Drew FitzGerald, Marisol Bello

Reading a Match.com Photo, Body Language and Smiling

My little four legged friend, Bo the wonder dog was featured prominently in the verbiage of my Match.com profile. I talk about how Bo and I walk together 45 minutes every day and how he sits beside me at my desk while I work in my home office. When I got and email from one particular guy on Match.com I read his written profile and I was wary of going out with him. The life he described he let made him seem like a player. He sounded fun,but he didn't sound like the kind of guy I would want to date.

However, in one of his photos he was sitting with his arms around a big dog both the dog had big ole’ smiles on their faces. Because I am a body language expert (I have even did a research study last year on smiling and personality available on my website) and read photos I could read his smile and knew it was real. ( For the body language cues that reveal a true smile check my website.) I could tell from his photos as he interacted with others that this man had a passion for living. I since I also read photos of people with their dogs, I also knew this man really cared for the dog. The combination of the smile and the dog drew me to him. In fact, he looked so darn cute with the dog that I decided after he made several appeals for a date that I would go out with him.

As it turned out, He had lost his dog to his ex girlfriend in a break up. But from the first time he met Bo my wonder dog he has loved him. He plays with Bo and when Bo learned how to open the back French doors he started bragging on Bo to our friends. Bo is sensitive to some people foods. Spaghetti and popcorn and other human snacks are just not for Bo. Since my sweetie found that out he is first to pick up any fallen food scrap that falls on the kitchen floor when we are cooking and the first to jump off the couch to get a piece of popcorn that has fallen on the rug. He is incredibly loving with my dog Bo. Now my girlfriends tease me and say I should read photos for women of men they are interested in on Match.com

Patti Wood, MA, CSP
The Body Language Expert
Phone-404-315-7397
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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