| Show I 1 THE it ali OF TIM THE 4 ID ag 1 HO HOW A CANINE EXPRESSES PLEASURE OR humiliation the I important p artt part that the tall of a hunting dog plays in the chasa chas AH A dogs doff sarta 8 ta to we wag their tall tails when pleased why dogs docs war wag their tall tail there are many reasons for the tail being the chief organ of expression among dogs they have but little facial expression beyond the lifting of the lip to show the teeth and the dilation of the pupil of the eye when angry the jaws and the contiguous parts are too much specialized for the serious business of seizing prey to be fitted for such purposes as aa they are in tn man an with dogs dog s which hunsby hant by scent the head is necessarily I 1 carried cowand low and is therefore not plainly plaine vv visible isible except to those close by but bat in the case of all hunting dogs such ss as foxhounds fox hounds or wolves which wk pack together the tail is ia carried aloft and is very free in movement it is also frequently rendered more conspicuous by the tip being white and this is ia almost almos t invariably the case casa when the hounds a are of mixed color when ranging the long grass of the prairie 6 or jungle jangle the raised tips of the tha tails would often be all that an individual ual member of the band would see of his fellows there is no doubt that hounds bounds habitually watch the tails of those tho sein in front of bf them when drawing a co covert vert if a faint drag is detected suggestive of the presence of a fox but scarcely sufficient chent to be ba sworn to vocally the tail oi of the finder is at once set in motion tion and the warmer the tha scent the quicker does it wag others othe rs seeing the signal instantly instants y join the first fint and there is an assemblage 0 of waving tails before ever the least whimper is heard beard should the drag prove a doubtful one As the hounds haun ds separate a again and the waving ewes but if it grows stron stronger mer when follo followed wed up the wagging becomes more and more emphatic until one after another the hounds begin lo 10 to whine and give tongue and stream off in indian file along the line of scent the whole whole question of tail wagging is 4 very interesting one all dogs wa wag 9 their tails when pleased and the movement m ove is ia generally understood by their human associates as an ali intimation that they are happy bat when we attempt to disc discover ovir the renson reason why pleasure should be expressed in this way the explanation appears at first a very difficult one all physical attributes of living beings are upon the evolution evolutionary mT hypothesis traceable to some actual need past or present the old and delightfully light fully conclusive dictum that things thing are as they are because they were in made ads so BO at the beginning no longer can be put jut forward seriously outside the pulpit or the nursery no doubt in many cases asfor as for instance the origin of human an laughter the mystery seems unfathomable but this only results from our de defective knowledge of data upon which to build the bridge of deductive argument therea the reason is there all the time could we but reach it and almost daily we are able to account for or mysterious and apparently anomalous anoma lomi phenomena which utterly baffled our oar predecessors r probably the manner in which domestic dogs doga express espre sa pleasure is owing to some interlocking of the machinery of cognate ideas la in order to understand this better it may be 18 helpful to consider so some me analog analogous ous instances with regard 0 to o habits of our own species there can be no question that the chief delight of wild dop doga as with mod ern hounds and Ep sporting orting dogs is in the chase and its ampa accompanying nying excitement and consequences one of the most thrilling moments to t the he h human hunter and doubtless to the caud cardne ca aine ne and one big with that most po poignant ignaut of all dl ds v lights anticipation of pleasurable excitement cit combined with muscular musawar activity ity is ia when the tha presence of game is flat first detected As aa we have seen in batchin watching 11 the behavior in a pack of foxhounds fox hounds this is invariably the time when tails ara an wagged for the common good the wagging is ia an almost invariable accod pani ment of this form of pleasure is ia one of the chie feat among the agreeable emotions when inthe in the wild state owing to some inoculation U vt d the nervous mechanism which at present we cannot unravel the association of pleasure and wagging has become so inseparable that the movement of the tail follows the emotion whatever ulay may can call it forth an explanation of a similar kind c can be found for the fact that dogs depress their tails when threatened pr scolded when tanning running away the tail would be the tha i put part nearest the pursuer and a most likel likely to be seized it was therefore securely securely tucked away between the hind legs the act of running eway away is naturally closely associated with the tha emotion of fear and therefore then fore this gesture tm 9 of putting the tail between the I 1 legs ear becomes an invariable concomitant of ro retreat or submission in the presence of superior force when a puppy taken out for an airing curves its tail downward and scuds scads in circles and half circles elessa el esst at fullest speed around its master it is cpr apparently trying to pro provoke volie ita pseudo cynic playfellow to pursue it in mock ock combat it may be observed that ibia running rig 1 in sharp curves with frequent change of direction is a common ruse with animals emals which are pursued by lawer larger enemies the reason of it is that the centrifugal impulse acts acta more powerfully on the animal cf af larger bulk and so BO gives tho the smaller oz an advantage dr louis loub robinson Bo binson in contemporary review |
