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How waggy are your chows tails?
Humphrey makes me smile because he lies on the floor in the evening and I know when he is semi-awake and looking at me because I can see his tail wagging out of the corner of my eye. When I get up to go to the loo in the middle of the night, he is lying in his guard position at the bottom of the stairs and I can just make out some white tail wagging. He was wagging his tail in his sleep yesterday - happy dreams obviously. You only have to smile at him and he is off - he has a very demonstrative happy tail!
Fozz on the other hand is quite sparing with her wags. She reserves them for saying hello and when she is feeling playful. Sometimes I worry that she isnt particularly happy (and then I remember that the spoilt beast cant be anything BUT happy).
Will Humphreys wiggly tail get less as he gets older? Is it chow nature to reserve tail waggys for special occassions only?

Fear not, Humphrey will keep his happy tail. Yes, it is the nature of some Chows (like Loo's, and your Fozz') to use their tail sparingly, but clearly not Humphrey's!

Maisie Daisy wags her tail constantly. We only have to speak and her tail twitches and if we speak to her of mention her name it wags away like fury. Matilda on the other hand very seldom wags her tail - she does sometimes but what she does a lot is sort of "rock" her tail on her back. She wears her tail curled right over on her back and when she "rocks" it, it just moves over slightly from side to side. Milly was the same in the way she rocked her tail and Mabel wagged her tail but not as much as Maisie.

Leo my Male just flutters his tail ever so slightly, just enough to rustle his fur, a nervous kind of wag.
Zoey will wag a little more vigorously with her ears back or while sounding a mock growl.
Both are more reserve with their wagging. Zoey talks instead and Leo just displays his presence.

neither of my current two can actually "wag" their tails, their tails are too closely curled to their backs, but they both rock them vigorously. When Firesong is in full coat it's hard to see hers move as the top of it just waves, Mr. Doughnut tail, (Dreamdancer) looks cute when he wags his because it never comes out of the curl it's in. He also will wiggle his bottom more when he's really wagging it. They both wag a lot though.

Well our female chow she wags so much her butt shakes with her tail.... Our Male chow he barely ever wags it very little...I mean with us he does but its not alot..he is happy to see us his ears go back he Paws us...its cute...lol...But miss Mia forget it...ears back head down...tail going a mile a minute....And tons of purple kisses....

kitten1426 wrote:Well our female chow she wags so much her butt shakes with her tail

My girl Cha Siu was like that too. Dim Sum on the other hand, he does wag his tail, but even when he's wagging it fast, his butt doesn't shake.

What I find amusing is when Dim Sum has to poo...when he's getting ready, his tail pumps up and down.

Nala and Simba are both "waggers". Nala more than Simba, but coming home, mentioing their names or favorite treats etc. get the tails going.

Lily is a wagger, always has her tail up. Dillon is not a wagger. His tail set tells the story of his mood...

Ty wags his tail a lot more than I give him credit for. What I mean by that is, I grew up with a lab who would wag her tail at everything. But Ty's tail tells the tale of the degree of happiness he is experiencing or excitement. He will do the little tail flutter of contentment as well as acknowledgement. He also has the tail rock when he's a little more excited or just plain happy. When he's really happy, his tail will lift off his back a bit more and wag. And for really special occassions when he's shaking with joy, the tail will not only noticeably wag, but his bum will wiggle too. This is usually accompanied by ears down, mouth open with purple kisses, and frantic paw to paw movement.

We used to say about Kimba that if she wagged her tail any faster she'd get lift! Her tail looked more like a helicopter whirl than a wag. ((Oh how I miss her!)) Leo is our waggly-tail / wiggly-butt boy. Especially when Joe comes home from work. Joe will get down on the floor with them and Leo will literally THROW himself into Joe's lap, lean back and lick his bald head! Max, the more reserved, will only flick his tail but he is no less enthralled with Daddy's return. When the boys are sitting in the window looking out, they will intermittently wag or flick their tails depending on what they see. The stray cat will get a flurry of wags which leads to screams and yelps. The mean ol' Lawn Ranger (our back yard neighbor) will get a short flick and a chuff. And if it's night time and they're laying down they, too, will flick in their sleep (as well as run and bark).

But I have to say my favorite is if I'm walking down the hall and they see me (you know, the No Head Lift Eyes Only thing) and their tails tell me exactly what they want! A flick means, Hello Mommy! A wag means, Come here please. A flurry of fluffiness means, I need some lovin' RIGHT NOW! Yes ... I am trained very well and respond accordingly.

The Chow Chow tail is truly a remarkable story teller!!

Max wags a little but, Zeena? That tail is going all the time. When we went to the breeder to see her when she was only 4 weeks old, her tail was going like crazy! She still does and she's almost 5 years old. I love it. It's another way to "smile" for a Chow.
Gene.

I quite often call Henry Helicopter dog, his tail waggles so much I think he'll take off one of these days (if he didn't eat so many treats lol). Sometimes it's just a lazy flop to each side but he can go super full speed where you can just imagine him taking off lol

King; mostly wags his tail when he knows we come home from work or school..and when he's waiting for his meal aside from sitting or lying on the side while preparing his food..

I think it varies from chow to chow...I have seen some with super waggy tails and others not so much. My open faced female would wag her tail for her family pretty freely, but my male chow seemed to reserve it just for me...his choice human and I always found something very enduring and special about it.

One thing all can agree on for sure is a happy chow tail is one of their greatest features....though they have So many.