Dealing with Dogs?

IVAN

Interesting article in the latest Scientific American (Wag the Dog - p25 - Sci Am April 2008).

According to some research, if a dog's wagging tail leans to his right, you are safe, as the dog experiences a positive emotion. If on the other hand, the wagging tail leans to his left, the dog is experiencing negative emotions and is best avoided.

The reason would be connected to brain asymmetry in processing of positive and negative emotions and their manifestation in tail wagging.

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capt_mahajan

Ivan, very interesting article, googled and found it

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=wag-the-dog&sc=rss

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Nick-H

That's just great --- until you discover a southpaw!

PeakXV

.... or a rabid portsider!

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

Nick-H

poipleshadow

Does this include all the dogs with bent broken tails from too many fights???

Be nice to dogs and they tend to be nice to you!!!! Simple! I was bitten when I was young but thankfully nothing since. The problem with Indian dogs is they crave attention so when you do stroke them you have a friend that will follow you arund for ages!!!

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birds

You are so right!

I need a home for a little black puppy in Goa. Anybody interested?

Nick-H

No stroking on the first date!

Do not ever attempt to touch a strange dog here, but you can still say hello! giving dogs their space is the way to avoid trouble/injury.

The only exception I made to this was the one who put her head in my lap.

Uncle_Martin

Yeah ... reading the dog's body language to work out the best way of proceedingis a good idea .. however dogs are bullies and will push it if they sense a 'fear' reaction on your part so if you are confident even the meanest 'sane' dog may re-evaluate its reaction ... taking Beta blockers can also help as I discovered when I was testing hypothesis on the behaviour of fellow mammals outside the Tiger enclosure to while away an afternoon at Lucknow Zoo as I waited for the first available train east ... the tiger tried a "this'll scare you m-fer growl" and responded to my quizzical glance/stance, which I use to communicate with my domestic cats when they order me to modify the environment to their advantage, by communicating a feline equivalent of "er sorry gov ..." and slinking away.

Kids ... Do not try this at home unless there is a stout fence between you and the experimental subject.

Oh and threatening to throw stones at their bollocks seem to work as well.

As a last resort the stick could have another use ... if all else fails throw the stick and sometimes even a very large 'fierce' dog may chase the stick and fetch it back to play with you ... it worked for me once.

navinkurian2002

All i have to say is the stray dogs rule the streets at night and on the quite deserted streets ,it is always good to have a stone with you. The action of throwing will keep them at bay. But there are times when there is no stoping these pack of dogs.

One of the reason is they are fed by an eccentric lady (near my place) or by the local hotels. Most slums keep these stray dogs as guard dogs.

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birds

It is strange but during 13 years India and many, many stray dog contacts I have yet to meet one that is nasty to me. but

Nick-H

They probably feel the same way about you!

poipleshadow

I've met lots of dogs and have managed to get away (so far) unscathed, my idea is that the more you make friends with the more there are who will come to your rescue!!! - most dogs (random ones) I meet i try and fget to know them, especially the mean looking ones that growl and people warn you away from... they're the ones who become your best friends...I currently have a lovely 3 legged one that runs after me to say hello.. OK it does get a bit tiring as it just 'plops' over infront of you as it wants it's belly rubbing... but it's so cute... pretty much all the local dogs follow me when i walk home... I bought myslef a new push bike and I had one follow me for 2 miles all round the block.. Poor thing was shattered by the time we got back...

Although today I met a rather fiece one, it was tied up and wasn't having any of my normal calming techniques... I was approaching on 'his' land so i think he was just miffed that I was so forward.... I will work on him... If my typing gets worse you can take it I've had a hand bitten off...