Dogs are animals of integrity. We have much to learn from them.
Category: Science
Photos of Rum Creek Fire!
Not all that are available by any means! These were copied from the Facebook page.
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Well done all those actively involved. We will see what the next week brings.
Just a brief update!
We have had gentle winds for Tuesday and Wednesday and there is good progress on the curtailment. So long as we don’t get more winds in the next 24 hours (writing this yesterday morning) then the firefighters will be able to keep up the good work.
The smoke has been bad and the whole area of Merlin and Grants Pass is affected.
But hopefully conditions will improve later on Thursday and more so on Friday.
The fire update, released around 10am yesterday, says:
MERLIN, Ore. – Overnight, the Rum Creek Fire pushed across the line on the east side of the fire near McKnabe Creek, burning several hundred acres. Resources are being shifted to this area to corral the slop-over and establish new control lines. An increase in fire activity is expected through Friday as the weather shifts to a hotter, drier pattern. Inversions are expected to lift earlier in the day, increasing temperatures and winds while reducing relative humidity.
As of early this morning, the fire was already burning actively on the ridges. Firefighters are expecting potential spot fires, and have shifted resources to continue alternate contingency fire lines to the east.
Last night firefighters successfully conducted burnouts on the south edge of the fire near Taylor Creek, eliminating remaining fuels between the control lines and the fire’s edge. Today, they will work to secure the southeast corner of the fire working toward the north. Hose lays and pumps have been set up along many control lines, including those constructed near Stratton Creek.
On the west edge of the fire, burnout operations near Mount Peavine and the 34 road have secured more of the western edge, and crews built line from Taylor Gulch toward Chrome Ridge. Today, fire personnel will tie the line from Chrome Ridge north to Bear Gulch, and are working near Ridge Gulch. North of the Rogue River, the line tying to the Dad Creek Fire scar is expected to be completed today.
Firefighters working with the OSFM are assisting with active fire suppression as needed. They are also extinguishing all remanent heat spots found within 100 feet of buildings, and continuing to assess structures. Also they are making preparations to include clearing brush and installing sprinklers, to further develop structure protection.
It is starting to look as though an evacuation for us at Hugo Road is more and more unlikely.
There is no post for today!
Although I admit that having this come out at the usual time for a Tuesday rather flies in the face of that sub-heading!
But on Sunday evening Merlin was placed in the first zone of the evacuation instructions. This follows the rapidly expanding Rum Creek Fire that is just West of us. Depending on what defines as the actual location of the fire we are anything from 5 to 9 miles away. Our home is on Hugo Road, Merlin.
The Rum Creek Fire 14 miles northwest of Grants Pass, Oregon has grown to 10,709 acres since it started from lightning on August 17. The fire is burning in very steep, remote, rugged terrain on both sides of the Rogue River. It has spread upriver to Galice and east to Stratton Creek. Spot fires have occurred two miles down range.
(Copied from Wildfire Today.)
So there you are!
There are not many who achieve so much, but Sir David most definately has!
This is our planet. It is the only one we have (stating the obvious!).
This beautiful photograph taken from the Apollo 11 mission says it all. That Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969 changed everything.
But one thing that was not on anyone’s mind then; the state of the planet!
How that has changed since 1969.
David Attenborough is a giant of a man, and I say this out of humility and respect for what he has done in his long life, he was born in May, 1926, and he is still fighting hard to get us humans to wake up to the crisis that is upon us.
Wikipedia has an entry that lists all the television shows, and more, that David Attenborough has made. As is quoted: “Attenborough’s name has become synonymous with the natural history programmes produced by the BBC Natural History Unit.”
Please take 45 minutes and watch this film. It is so important.
But before you do please read this extract taken from this site about the film:
For decades David Attenborough delighted millions of people with tales of life on Earth, exploring wild places and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Now, for the first time he reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen.
Honest, revealing and urgent, the film serves as a witness statement for the natural world – a first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature, from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the jungles of central Africa, the North Pole and Antarctica. It also aims to provide a message of hope for future generations.
“I’ve had a most extraordinary life. It’s only now I appreciate how extraordinary,” Sir David says in the film’s trailer, in which he also promises to tell audiences how we can “work with nature rather than against it”.
The film retraces Sir David’s career, his life stages and natural history films, within the context of human population growth and the loss of wilderness areas. “I don’t think that the theoretical basis for the reason why biodiversity is important is a widely understood one,” he told the Guardian in September.
This autumn, a series of publications warned that “humanity is at a crossroads” in its relationship with nature, culminating in a UN report that the world has failed to meet a single target to stop the destruction of nature in the past decade.
Sir David has been vocal about the threat of climate change in recent years, calling on politicians to take their “last chance” to act rather than continue to “neglect long-term problems”.
“We need to learn how to work with nature, rather than against it”, according to Sir David. In the film, he is going to tell us how.
Now watch the film. Please!
As you can see, in the film Sir David states that the only way out of this mess is a massive focus on rewilding.
Coincidentally, Patrice Ayme last Sunday wrote about rewilding: California Grizzly: Rewilding Is A Moral Duty. In the latter half of that essay, he wrote: “One should strive to reintroduce American megafauna, starting with the more innocuous species (and that includes the grizzly). By the way, I have run and hiked in grizzly country (Alaska), with a huge bear pepper spray cannister at the ready. I nearly used the cannister on a charging moose (with her calf which was as big as a horse). The calf slipped off, and I eluded the mom through a thicket of very closely spaced tough trees. But I had my finger on the trigger, safety off. Moose attack more humans than grizzlies and wolves combined (although a bear attack is more dangerous). In any case, in the US, stinging insects kill around 100, deer around 200 (mostly through car collisions), and lightning around three dozen people, per year.
As it is, I run and hike a lot in California wilderness, out of rescue range. I generally try to stay aware of where and when I could come across bears, lions and rattlers. My last close call with a large rattlesnake, up a mountain slope, was partly due to hubris and not realizing I was moving in dangerous terrain. Fortunately I heard the slithering just in time. Dangerous animals make us aware of nature in its full glory, and the real nature of the human condition. They keep us more honest with what is real, what humanity is all about.
And that should be the primordial sense.“
I will close by offering you this photograph. May it inspire you to rewild, in small ways and also, if you can, in bigger ways. All of us must be involved. Otherwise…
…otherwise… (sentence left unfinished).
Yes, you heard that correctly!
I was just idly browsing dog websites a couple of days ago and came across the Dog Aging Project. As their About page reports:
The goal of the Dog Aging Project is to understand how genes, lifestyle, and environment influence aging. We want to use that information to help pets and people increase healthspan, the period of life spent free from disease.
I have taken the liberty of sharing one of their blog posts with you (I can’t see that isn’t allowed!)
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Longer, healthier lives. Together.
Dog and Human Genetics: Similarity and Difference
July 26th, 2022
Your pup may be your “fur baby,” but how similar are you genetically? You may be surprised!
Did you know that dogs and people share over 17,000 special genes called orthologs? Each pair of orthologs is derived from the same common ancestor via vertical descent (speciation) and they tend to have similar functions. They are one of the main reasons why your pup is such an invaluable comparative animal model for studying human health. In fact, humans and dogs have numerous similarities even in those parts of the genome that aren’t genes (the noncoding part of the genome). When it comes to better understanding human health, your pup is our best friend!
Sometimes, the effects of a gene are identical between dogs and people. For example, the same version of EPAS1, a gene triggered by low-oxygen conditions, is shared by people living in the Tibetan Plateau and the dog lineages that developed there. Genetic changes in this gene have taken place to help kickstart the body’s responses to hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, at high altitudes.
In other cases, the effects of a gene may be similar but not identical. For instance, the gene SCN3A is important to brain function and affects the development of speech. In children, mutations in SCN3A have been reported to cause disorders like epilepsy. But in dogs, genetic changes near the canine ortholog of SCN3A are associated with the frequency of howling in dogs.[1] The functions of this gene seem distinct (speech versus howling) but related!
For other health conditions shared by dogs and people, the same genes may not be responsible, but that doesn’t mean that research on those conditions in dogs isn’t helpful for humans! By learning more about how a dog’s genes are connected with a shared health condition, we can investigate the biological mechanisms involved and potentially make links to human health.
For example, people long suggested that narcolepsy might be a disease of the immune system: an autoimmune attack that causes daytime drowsiness and sudden sleep. In human studies, it was difficult to confirm the immune system link. It wasn’t until 1999[2] that this connection was discovered in a lineage of Doberman pinscher dogs. The researchers discovered a gene that is involved in the interface between the nervous system and immune system.
Finally, you and your pup share more than just genetics. Your environments are also very similar! You sleep in the same house—maybe even the same bed!—go on walks together, and breathe the same air. Interactions between these environmental variables and your genetics (called gene by environment interactions) can have an important impact on health. For example, smoking is well known to increase risk of bladder cancer in humans[3], but it is still unknown how secondhand smoke affects risk of bladder cancer in dogs.[4]
Data from the Dog Aging Project should help us answer important questions like these!
1. Kathleen Morrill et al. 2022. Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes. Science 376: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0639
2. Ling Lin et al. 1999. The Sleep Disorder Canine Narcolepsy Is Caused by a Mutation in the Hypocretin (Orexin) Receptor 2 Gene. Cell 98 (3): 365-376. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81965-0
3. JD Figueroa et al. 2014. Genome-wide interaction study of smoking and bladder cancer risk. Carcinogenesis 35 (8):1737-44. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24662972/
4. Deborah Knapp. Canine Bladder Cancer. https://www.vet.purdue.edu/pcop/files/docs/CanineUrinaryBladderCancer.pdf (PDF)
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This is, in my opinion, an important project.
Many may want to nominate their own dog and there is a page where a number of FAQ’s are addressed. If you wish to proceed then go to this page.
It all makes sense now.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
This famous quotation by Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th President of the USA, seems apt for today’s post.
Exactly one week ago I published a post called Musings from a 77 year old! I wrote that the future was uncertain. Summed up at one point by me writing: “I have no idea of the global changes that are afoot and how they will affect us in Merlin. Indeed, I have no idea how long I have to live.“
Margaret (from Tasmania) was one of the many people who responded. She included a video interview of Meg Wheatley by Michael Shaw. It is an hour long. Last Friday afternoon Jean and I watched it in full and it was incredibly interesting. Thank you very much, dear Margaret.
But before I present Meg’s video again I want to show you another video. It is a talk by Richard Grannon about the collapse of our civilisation. Now Richard Grannon is an author, YouTuber and life coach so one needs to remain impartial to his views, certainly before one does further research. But in the 46-minute talk I think there is much sense in what he says. See for yourself:
Moving on! The interview of Meg Wheatley is very good indeed. It’s a broad look at the issues and problems governing society but done in such a way that the people who watch her will also take away a number of tools for avoiding depression and anxiety. Meg places great store on the Hopi Native American Indians: “The Hopi maintain a complex religious and mythological tradition stretching back over centuries.“
Meg quotes one of the more famous Hopi prophecies, that is reproduced below:
This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Here is that Meg Wheatley interview. (It is an hour long but very interesting; please watch it!)
I want to pick up the topic that was at the end of her interview; that of societal collapse. How would one define it? I chose Wikipedia for a reference.
Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of socioeconomic complexity, the downfall of government, and the rise of violence.[1]Possible causes of a societal collapse include natural catastrophe, war, pestilence, famine, economic collapse, population decline, and mass migration. A collapsed society may revert to a more primitive state, be absorbed into a stronger society, or completely disappear.
Virtually all civilizations have suffered such a fate, regardless of their size or complexity, but some of them later revived and transformed, such as China, India, and Egypt. However, others never recovered, such as the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, the Maya civilization, and the Easter Island civilization.[1] Societal collapse is generally quick[1] but rarely abrupt.[2] However, some cases involve not a collapse but only a gradual fading away, such as the British Empire since 1918.[3]
Anthropologists, (quantitative) historians, and sociologists have proposed a variety of explanations for the collapse of civilizations involving causative factors such as environmental change, depletion of resources, unsustainable complexity, invasion, disease, decay of social cohesion, rising inequality, secular decline of cognitive abilities, loss of creativity, and misfortune.[1][4] However, complete extinction of a culture is not inevitable, and in some cases, the new societies that arise from the ashes of the old one are evidently its offspring, despite a dramatic reduction in sophistication.[4] Moreover, the influence of a collapsed society, such as the Western Roman Empire, may linger on long after its death.[5]
The study of societal collapse, collapsology, is a topic for specialists of history, anthropology, sociology, and political science. More recently, they are joined by experts in cliodynamics and study of complex systems.[6][4]
The article is much more extensive than I have quoted above and for anyone deeply interested then I do recommend you going to the article and reading it extensively.
Now Meg is of the opinion that it is too late to turn back but next Tuesday I want to talk to you about Sir David Attenborough’s film A Life on our Planet. That he believes there is a chance to undo the harm we are causing to the planet; through rewilding.
Until then!
Another item about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
I make no apologies for returning to the JWST in just a week after publishing my first article about the telescope. For I found the latest article, again published on The Conversation, to be incredible and that was all I needed to share it with you.
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To search for alien life, astronomers will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets – and the James Webb Space Telescope just proved it’s possible to do so
Published July 14th, 2022.
By Chris Impey University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona and
Daniel Apai Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona.
The ingredients for life are spread throughout the universe. While Earth is the only known place in the universe with life, detecting life beyond Earth is a major goal of modern astronomy and planetary science.
We are two scientists who study exoplanets and astrobiology. Thanks in large part to next-generation telescopes like James Webb, researchers like us will soon be able to measure the chemical makeup of atmospheres of planets around other stars. The hope is that one or more of these planets will have a chemical signature of life.
Life might exist in the solar system where there is liquid water – like the subsurface aquifers on Mars or in the oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa. However, searching for life in these places is incredibly difficult, as they are hard to reach and detecting life would require sending a probe to return physical samples.
Many astronomers believe there’s a good chance that life exists on planets orbiting other stars, and it’s possible that’s where life will first be found.
Theoretical calculations suggest that there are around 300 million potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone and several habitable Earth-sized planets within only 30 light-years of Earth – essentially humanity’s galactic neighbors. So far, astronomers have discovered over 5,000 exoplanets, including hundreds of potentially habitable ones, using indirect methods that measure how a planet affects its nearby star. These measurements can give astronomers information on the mass and size of an exoplanet, but not much else.
To detect life on a distant planet, astrobiologists will study starlight that has interacted with a planet’s surface or atmosphere. If the atmosphere or surface was transformed by life, the light may carry a clue, called a “biosignature.”
For the first half of its existence, Earth sported an atmosphere without oxygen, even though it hosted simple, single-celled life. Earth’s biosignature was very faint during this early era. That changed abruptly 2.4 billion years ago when a new family of algae evolved. The algae used a process of photosynthesis that produces free oxygen – oxygen that isn’t chemically bonded to any other element. From that time on, Earth’s oxygen-filled atmosphere has left a strong and easily detectable biosignature on light that passes through it.
When light bounces off the surface of a material or passes through a gas, certain wavelengths of the light are more likely to remain trapped in the gas or material’s surface than others. This selective trapping of wavelengths of light is why objects are different colors. Leaves are green because chlorophyll is particularly good at absorbing light in the red and blue wavelengths. As light hits a leaf, the red and blue wavelengths are absorbed, leaving mostly green light to bounce back into your eyes.
The pattern of missing light is determined by the specific composition of the material the light interacts with. Because of this, astronomers can learn something about the composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere or surface by, in essence, measuring the specific color of light that comes from a planet.
This method can be used to recognize the presence of certain atmospheric gases that are associated with life – such as oxygen or methane – because these gasses leave very specific signatures in light. It could also be used to detect peculiar colors on the surface of a planet. On Earth, for example, the chlorophyll and other pigments plants and algae use for photosynthesis capture specific wavelengths of light. These pigments produce characteristic colors that can be detected by using a sensitive infrared camera. If you were to see this color reflecting off the surface of a distant planet, it would potentially signify the presence of chlorophyll.
It takes an incredibly powerful telescope to detect these subtle changes to the light coming from a potentially habitable exoplanet. For now, the only telescope capable of such a feat is the new James Webb Space Telescope. As it began science operations in July 2022, James Webb took a reading of the spectrum of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-96b. The spectrum showed the presence of water and clouds, but a planet as large and hot as WASP-96b is unlikely to host life.
However, this early data shows that James Webb is capable of detecting faint chemical signatures in light coming from exoplanets. In the coming months, Webb is set to turn its mirrors toward TRAPPIST-1e, a potentially habitable Earth-sized planet a mere 39 light-years from Earth.
Webb can look for biosignatures by studying planets as they pass in front of their host stars and capturing starlight that filters through the planet’s atmosphere. But Webb was not designed to search for life, so the telescope is only able to scrutinize a few of the nearest potentially habitable worlds. It also can only detect changes to atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. While certain combinations of these gasses may suggest life, Webb is not able to detect the presence of unbonded oxygen, which is the strongest signal for life.
Even using the most powerful telescopes of the coming decades, astrobiologists will only be able to detect strong biosignatures produced by worlds that have been completely transformed by life.
Unfortunately, most gases released by terrestrial life can also be produced by nonbiological processes – cows and volcanoes both release methane. Photosynthesis produces oxygen, but sunlight does, too, when it splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. There is a good chance astronomers will detect some false positives when looking for distant life. To help rule out false positives, astronomers will need to understand a planet of interest well enough to understand whether its geologic or atmospheric processes could mimic a biosignature.
The next generation of exoplanet studies has the potential to pass the bar of the extraordinary evidence needed to prove the existence of life. The first data release from the James Webb Space Telescope gives us a sense of the exciting progress that’s coming soon.
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So despite the advances in technology that resulted in the JWST it will still not be possible to detect unbonded oxygen; a sure indicator of life. It will be able to detect many other fascinating aspects of stars and planets beyond the Milky Way. I do not know if “The first data release…” relates to software or whether further launches of Mk 2 ‘JWST’ will be required. I will try and find out!
Nasa’s James Webb telescope is awesome beyond words.
The recent launch of this telescope, as a successor to Hubble, can see right back more than 13.5 billion years. The universe was formed 13.78 billion years ago. The reach of the James Webb telescope is therefore 98% (97.96) of the life of the universe. But the superlatives about this telescope are almost never-ending. For example it will, in time, be able to explore the tiny planetary worlds far, far away. We may in time see signs of life, as in water, vegetation, or industrialisation, connected with those planets.
The James Webb is in orbit some million miles away from Earth and will, in fact, be orbiting the sun.
One could go on and on speaking about this achievement but I will resist. I want to share a three things with you.
First the release of this early image and a portion of the associated text:
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far. Webb’s First Deep Field is galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is teeming with thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.
Webb’s image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length, a tiny sliver of the vast universe. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying more distant galaxies, including some seen when the universe was less than a billion years old. This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks. And this is only the beginning. Researchers will continue to use Webb to take longer exposures, revealing more of our vast universe.
Second, why is it named after James E. Webb (1906- 1992)? James Webb was NASA’s second administrator and known for leading Apollo, the series of lunar exploration programs that landed the first humans on the Moon. (A good Q&A is here: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/faq.html )
Last thing to share is some music! ‘Floating in Heaven’ by Graham Gouldman and Brian May
It is indeed wonderful to be alive at this time!
A fascinating post from The Dodo.
One cannot imagine a dog without a tail. One can’t imagine a dog’s tail that doesn’t wag for much of the time. So why do our dogs wag their tails? Sam Schwab answers the question.
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By Sam Schwab
Published 10th September, 2021
When coming home after being away all day, it can be super sweet to be greeted at the door by your dog wagging her tail.
Dogs use their tails to communicate a range of emotions to humans and other dogs, including both positive emotions, like happiness or excitement, and negative ones, like frustration or anger.
“In general terms, dogs wag their tails because their level of excitement or agitation has gone up,” Irith Bloom, a professional certified dog trainer and owner of The Sophisticated Dog in Los Angeles, told The Dodo. “So a wagging tail could mean the dog is excited, frustrated, angry or happy, for example — and that’s just a partial list!”
The Dodo spoke with Bloom to understand the meaning of your dog’s tail wagging and to get some tips for interpreting your dog’s tail language.
Dogs will wag their tails when they’re happy to see someone — which is usually what most people assume a dog is feeling when they wag their tail (though, this isn’t always the case).
To know if your dog is happy when she’s wagging her tail, pay close attention to the position of your dog’s tail and her body language.
If your dog’s whole body seems relaxed in general while wagging her tail, she’s most likely communicating happiness. “If the dog’s tail is wagging in a loose, relaxed arc, and the dog’s body is also loose or even wiggly, odds are the dog is happy to see you,” Bloom said.
A quick wag, or a tail wagging in circles really fast, can also mean your dog’s happy. “Sometimes dogs wag their tails really fast in these situations, too, and their tail may even move a little like a propeller,” Bloom said.
You should also consider context: If you’re returning home after being out, or your dog sees someone she likes, the tail wagging is most likely due to happiness.
In one study, researchers found that dogs who wagged their tails more to the right side of their bodies were more relaxed, while dogs who wagged their tails to the left side of their bodies were more stressed, alert and anxious. (So, next time your dog wags her tail, check to see if it skews to either side!)
You might also see dogs wagging their tails when they’re really excited.
“Among other things, dogs may wag their tails when they are looking forward to something,” Bloom said.
You’ll commonly see your dog wagging her tail out of excitement when she’s waiting for a treat, meeting new dogs or playing fetch.
When your dog’s excited, her whole body will pretty much zero in on the object of her excitement, but her body language won’t be too tense.
“If a dog’s tail is moving fast, the rest of the body is ready for action but not ‘tight,’ and the dog is focused on something like a ball, they are probably looking forward to playing,” Bloom said.
A wagging tail doesn’t always mean a dog is happy — sometimes it means she’s feeling agitated.
“A lot of people are surprised to learn that dogs sometimes also wag their tails when they are upset or angry,” Bloom said.
If a dog’s tail starts wagging out of anger, she could easily become aggressive, so it’s important to back away from the pup or leave the situation if that happens.
“I cannot tell you how many people have told me they were bitten by a dog whose tail was wagging!” Bloom said. “It’s important to remember that a wagging tail does not mean a friendly dog.”
You’ll be able to tell if a dog is wagging her tail out of anger if her tail and overall body language are very tense.
“If the dog’s tail is wagging slowly and stiffly, though, look to see if the dog’s muscles look tight or if their face seems tense,” Bloom said. “You might notice that their mouth is tightly closed or their brow is furrowed.”
An aggressive dog might also be more vocal. “They might also be growling or snarling,” Bloom said.
“Any of these behaviors, even when the tail is wagging, mean that the tail wag is more about being agitated or angry than happy and welcoming, so be sure to keep your distance!” Bloom added.
Paying attention to a dog’s body language (as well as the context of the situation) can give you valuable insight into how a dog is feeling — and if the tail wagging means aggression.
“To figure out what a tail wag means, look at the whole dog’s body, but keep in mind that not every dog’s body language will be the same,” Bloom said.
You should have a good idea of what your own dog looks like when she’s happy, but since it can be difficult to tell the emotions of an unfamiliar dog, you should always be very careful when meeting a new dog for the first time.
According to Bloom, in these situations, you should let the dog approach you first and not vice versa.
“It bears repeating: A wagging tail does NOT mean a friendly dog,” Bloom said. “Sometimes it’s hard for even an expert to tell what a dog’s body language is saying, so it’s a good idea to let dogs decide whether or not they want to approach you instead of invading their space.”
In addition to using their tails to communicate with people and dogs around them, dogs use their tails for movement and balance.
“Dogs use their tails for balance,” Bloom said. “They do this both in everyday activities and when moving fast, like during a game of fetch.”
Tails can also assist your dog in completing a turn while she runs: Her front legs turn in one direction, while her back legs continue moving forward, and her tail moves with the front legs to keep her body on course.
“Watch your dog’s tail movement when they make a fast turn to see an example of how the dog’s tail helps keep the dog’s body in balance!” Bloom said.
Dog tails are super important for your pup and play a huge role in how they communicate. So next time you see your dog’s tail wagging, you’ll know that there might be more going on than meets the eye, and you should always check your dog’s body language to get the full picture.
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I think that is a comprehensive review of the subject and, hopefully, some out there learnt some more about dogs’ tails.
For people who want to delve more deeply into the subject there’s an excellent study over on Current Biology, from which I take this small extract:
Left-right asymmetries in behavior associated with asymmetries in the brain are widespread in the animal kingdom and the hypothesis has been put forward that they may be linked to animals’ social behavior. Dogs show asymmetric tail-wagging responses to different emotive stimuli the outcome of different activation of left and right brain structures controlling tail movements to the right and left side of the body.
We can never stop learning!
Finally, enjoy this:
More on a recent post from The Dodo.
We watched recently a documentary on Netflix about the special attributes of our pets. It was very good but one thing that we learnt was that dogs have on the tips of their snouts an area that can pick up warmth. Because when dogs are tiny puppies and still blind they find their mothers’ teats by homing in on the warmth of the mother’s body.
Many people are aware of the scenting ability of the dog. To quote: “While humans have about five million olfactory receptors in their noses, dogs are said to have around 300 million.”
(Read that article that I linked above for it is very good.)
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Published on the 6th June, 2022.
One of Hime’s favorite pastimes is a simple one: sit near a nature path and patiently wait for nose boops. The 13-year-old Siberian husky figured out long ago that, eventually, she’ll get what she came for.
“She likes that spot so she can watch the world go by,” David Nagadhana, Hime’s dad, told The Dodo. “But she has other strategies.”
Hime, who was adopted as a puppy, hitches a ride in Nagadhana’s bike trailer to get to the best petting spots.
“I cycle her because of her arthritis,” Nagadhana said. “Gentle in her old age, [Hime] looks for affection anywhere she can find it.”
The husky’s place of choice is by the Thames in Richmond, England, but Nagadhana takes her wherever she seems happiest.
“She loves finding new and interesting and exciting locations so that she may proceed to nap in them,” Nagadhana said. “She finds it relaxing enough to nod off on occasion.”
Nagadhana and Hime do everything together, and it won’t stop anytime soon.
“She was there for me when life ground to a halt during the pandemic,” Nagadhana said. “I’ll be there for her until the end. Raising dogs is like a rainbow. Puppies are the joy at one end, old dogs are the treasure at the other.”
Needless to say, Hime gets endless boops from her favorite person: Dad.
(All photographs by DAVID NAGADHANA.)
ooOOoo
One turns to the American Kennel Club for information about the breed, as in the Siberian Husky, and this is what is found:
Siberian Husky, a thickly coated, compact sled dog of medium size and great endurance, was developed to work in packs, pulling light loads at moderate speeds over vast frozen expanses. Sibes are friendly, fastidious, and dignified. The graceful, medium-sized Siberian Husky’s almond-shaped eyes can be either brown or blue ‘and sometimes one of each’, and convey a keen but amiable and even mischievous expression. Quick and nimble-footed, Siberians are known for their powerful but seemingly effortless gait. Tipping the scales at no more than 60 pounds, they are noticeably smaller and lighter than their burly cousin, the Alaskan Malamute. As born pack dogs, they enjoy family life and get on well with other dogs. The Sibe’s innate friendliness render them indifferent watchdogs. These are energetic dogs who can’t resist chasing small animals, so secure running room is a must. An attractive feature of the breed: Sibes are naturally clean, with little doggy odor.
There!
Learning from Dogs 
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