# Helicopter tail! How often does your GSD do this?



## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Hans does the helicopter tail --a lot!
He does it when he's waiting for me to throw his ball, he does it when he sees my older son approach,he does it sometimes when I talk to him in the evening as we sit in the living room relaxing.
I just read this section of Patricia McConnell's website, saying that only 10 to 20% of dogs do this.


"_But here’s one for you: What about “Circle Wag?” I made that term up, so don’t go looking for it anywhere. But in the best tradition of ethology, “Circle Wag” is descriptive, because the tail literally goes around in a circle. Here’s my belief about it’s ‘meaning’ (and that’s all it is, a belief). Circle wags appear to be done by dogs who are extremely happy. I see it on dogs who just adore adore adore a particular person, and I’ve seen on Luke and Will when we finished up a great session of herding and we both were equally proud of ourselves. I can not remember ever seeing it on a dog who appeared to be anxious or potentially aggressive, either defensive or offensively. Many dogs never circle wag, and I have no idea how many dogs actually do it. Ten percent? Twenty?"

What about you? Does your dog circle wag? And if so, in what context? I’ll spend some time this week researching the issue (is it described in wolves, in other ethograms, for ex?). I do know that Fox and Bekoff (1975) wrote “The only tail wagging behavior that seems to reliably predict friendliness is a relaxed tail waving in a circular motion.” I would love to hear your own thoughts and observations about what I call “circle wag”._

Does your GSD do this?
If so, when and how often?


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I only know two dogs who do the "circle wag". My best friend's pit bull, and a labradoodle that I groom. Nothing like a wet soapy tail flying around in a circle!


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

dogfaeries said:


> I only know two dogs who do the "circle wag". My best friend's pit bull, and a labradoodle that I groom. Nothing like a wet soapy tail flying around in a circle!


Really? Wow! I never knew this was a rare thing!


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## PuppyKono (Jun 30, 2012)

i've seen Kono do the circle wag. She only does it when she meets the dogs on the backside of our fence, and then she'll along the fence with them  Its adorable. I dont think I've seen her do the helicopter tail though.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

PuppyKono said:


> i've seen Kono do the circle wag. She only does it when she meets the dogs on the backside of our fence, and then she'll along the fence with them  Its adorable. I dont think I've seen her do the helicopter tail though.


Circle wag and helicopter tail are one and the same thing.


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## PuppyKono (Jun 30, 2012)

Really? Haha! I have no clue what a helicopter tail is  I tried to look it up but it people said it was a really fast side to side wag. LOL! So they are the same thing?  Haha!


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Aiden does it when he's meeting any other animal. I've always referred to it as helicopter tail


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## GSDGunner (Feb 22, 2011)

Gunner just does the regular swish of the tail back and forth. But I'd love to see a dog with helicopter tail.
Can someone video it?


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

GSDGunner said:


> Gunner just does the regular swish of the tail back and forth. But I'd love to see a dog with helicopter tail.
> Can someone video it?


I can try. Aiden usually does it when he's around my cat so it might be possible.


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

OMG! Juno does the helicopter tail!!!

She does it clockwise when she first begins running towards her ball during a game of fetch. Then she turns it to counter clockwise when she gets close to the ball in an effort to slow down. No joke!!

She also does it when she's happy to see us. The counter clockwise helicopter tail when she's running cracks me up though. It really is like she's trying to slow herself down. haha!


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

GSDGunner said:


> Gunner just does the regular swish of the tail back and forth. But I'd love to see a dog with helicopter tail.
> Can someone video it?


I certainly will try! We call it " getting the ultimate!"


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

None of my GSDs do it, but my lab use to regularly.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Babs does it, and she has Airplane Ears too. Hang on, sometimes she puts her ears straight out parallel to the ground. And then sometimes she twists them. Weird. 

Milla and Ninja do this too (the circle tail). They are out of Babs. So maybe their is a genetic component? Or maybe they are just crazy-goofy.


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## Shaolin (Jun 16, 2012)

Finn only does it when he is running at top speed with his ears back and that GSD smile on his face or after a find at SAR. Our Collie did it when she was getting a high value treat or when the Hubby came home.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

my girl is named Apache via the helicopter, but I dont want her to do this.


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## SueDoNimm (Jul 3, 2012)

Jerry does it if you ask him if he wants to go outside, play ball, or eat. It starts with a head tilt + perky ears, followed by rearing, prancing, and helicopter tail.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## coloradokayla458 (8 mo ago)

Rua said:


> OMG! Juno does the helicopter tail!!!
> 
> She does it clockwise when she first begins running towards her ball during a game of fetch. Then she turns it to counter clockwise when she gets close to the ball in an effort to slow down. No joke!!
> 
> She also does it when she's happy to see us. The counter clockwise helicopter tail when she's running cracks me up though. It really is like she's trying to slow herself down. haha!


We have three Shepard's and when playing ball they do the same thing! It deff seems like they do it to slow their selves down when they get close to the ball. It's the funniest thing ever!!!


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

In my younger days (20's) we had a dog at the riding stable that did this. She was, according to her owner, a GSD/wolf mix. She was quite elderly and her gait was very stiff from arthritis. When she cantered, the tail would circle in one direction if she was on the left lead, and in the opposite direction when she was on the right! 🤣

Seriously - I worked there for 6 months, so I saw it frequently. Wish we'd had cell phones in those days so I could have recorded it!


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Wow, blast from the past!

To answer 2013 me: I have never seen Rolf do this.
Hans still does 💖


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