The Science of the “Tail Wag”
It’s a common myth that a wagging tail always means a happy dog. In reality, the tail is a complex communication tool. Research suggests that the direction of the wag matters: a wag biased toward the right usually indicates positive feelings (like seeing their owner), while a wag to the left can signal anxiety or caution.
Super-Powered Smell: A dog’s sense of smell is $10,000$ to $100,000$ times more acute than ours. To put that in perspective, while a human might notice a teaspoon of sugar in their coffee, a dog could detect that same teaspoon in two Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.
Dreaming: If you’ve ever seen your dog’s paws twitching while they sleep, they are likely dreaming. Dogs enter the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage of sleep just like humans do, and it’s believed they dream about common activities like chasing squirrels or playing fetch.