Hank and everyone I sent this email to them.

Hello.

My name is Dennis Hasley.

I am certified professional police k9 trainer and graduate from of one of the best schools in the country. Having many years of professional experience as a behavior specialist, trainer, and researcher I hope you will take note to this email.

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Recently posted on a Police and Sport Dog Discussion Forum @ Leerburg.com -

Topic: tail wagging and biting.

(He did not mention you by name)
Local radio talk show host: ….a dog with a wagging tail will not bite. This claim was from, as the poster described, “ self proclaimed, dog experts.”

He was apparently told he did not know what he was talking about talking about. I believe his honest concern for public safety was the reason for his posting this on a forum where many of the people are the top trainers in the country for a response.

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Not knowing the details of the radio conversation nor the true credentials of the advice giver in question. I will say the dog training industry is full of incompetent people. A wagging tail alone as an indication of a dog’s intention is very incompetent and dangerous.

The statistics are cause for my concern.

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs, 800,000 of them badly enough to require medical treatment. At least 60 percent of dog bites and 72 percent of fatal bites involve children. A dog bites half of all children in this country before their 12th birthday with many needing plastic surgery to minimize unsightly scars.

Here are the true facts about tail waging:

A wagging tail generally means the dog is excited but not necessarily happy. The tail wag is but one indicator in response to some stimulus. The dog’s tail wagging reaction maybe friendliness, aggression or even an anticipation of a fight for territory.

The components of the dog’s body language as a whole determine his intention. This body language is often confusing for the public and apparently experts as well.

A good example is a dog that is angry or aggressively protecting its territory. His ears are up and forward, eyes look directly at you and his tail will is up and WAGGING slowly. This dog WILL bite.

Short tailed dog make this judgment of intention based on tail language even more difficult to discern. Maybe you would like to clear this up with your listeners for the sake of safe information.

I am posting this on this email on the forum as well for public access. I will post any thing you can offer to either clarify your position or acknowledge your dedication to public safety and would appreciate a response from you.

Take Care.

END EMAIL

We will see what they have to say about this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

In my opinion a dog wagging its tail tells me it is about to enjoy whatever is goin to happen next,it could be licking your hand or biting it.To put it another way it could be a big warm smile or a sh** eating grin.

Dogs are unpredictable. A dog wagging his tail doesn’t mean he won’t bite. There are different types of motions in the wag that mean different things and in accordance to different breeds. One type to be cautious of – really hard to describe though – slowly moving from side to side like a slither. When my GSD does it (a very distinctive wag) there must be another dog in sight, then the hackles go up and so on. At first her tail wagging may seem out of excitement, which it is, but not of "good" excitement as many people may misinterpret.

Great post Dennis, I hope they take heed and maybe even apoligize for their inability to listen to someone who really knows what he is talking about. The public needs to know the difference.

I appreciate all the responce to this issue.
A special thanks to Dennis for his e-mail.
This is a great board and I look forard to spending time here.

I was attacked by a dog when I was 12. The dog was indeed wagging it's tail. It wasn't a "happy" wag (hard to explain) ,but it was more of a rigid/stiff, straight up in the air wag. I was told that dogs were happy when they wagged their tails. So I just continued to ride my bike.... Fortunetely I came out with only a big bruise on my leg!