One neuroscientist and two veterinarians collaborated recently to understand further the meaning behind a dog's tail wagging. We're not certain why they did that and for what great cause but dog lovers and owners will surely be interested about their findings.

According to the study, dogs wag their tail mostly towards the right side if they feel fundamentally good and positive about someone or something. On the other hand, the wagging is more to the left whenever they're sad or harboring negative feelings. The study was conducted by scientist Giorgio Vallortigara from University of Trieste and veterinarians Angelo Quaranta and Marcello Siniscalchi from University of Bari.

Furthermore, the study was conducted in Italy using 30 family pets of mixed breed that have been enrolled in an agility training program. The dogs were placed in cages equipped with cameras capable of measuring exact angles of their tail wags. Four stimuli were then introduced: their owner, an unfamiliar human, a cat, and an unfamiliar dominant dog.

The testing lasted for a total of 25 days and each day consisted of 10 sessions each. The study implies that muscles in the right side of the tail reflect positive emotions. On the other hand, muscles in the left side of their tails mean negative feelings.

Richard J. Davidson, Director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, believes that such findings can be used to further the study of asymmetry in the brain. Davidson is intrigued if dogs do show emotional asymmetry because the tails are placed in the mid-line of the dogs' bodies.