Yesterday when I came home, I went upstairs to where Sam was spending his time and as I came around the corner and saw his face, he saw me too and HE WAGGED HIS TAIL!! I couldn't stop watching it and smiling and telling Sam how happy that tail wagging was making me... For a week or so, I have so been hoping that he might wag his tail when he saw me - and then he did!
This has not happened in over a month, maybe two months. Sam's tail wags sometimes (like when he sees dogs at the barn) and also when he barks at the cats sometimes and, of course, sometimes when he's eating. However, he had not wagged in recognition since early January, I think. It's not that Sam doesn't know us or still love seeing us, we're pretty sure that he is still recovering sensation in his hind end due to a relatively long term subluxation in his neck.
We do "tail therapy" as I call it several times a day (I gently lift Sam's tail and hold a little tension on it as I move my hand from the root to the tip of his tail). During "tail therapy" Sam's tail usually begins to wag and continues for a while. The time that his tail stays wagging has been increasing and if you visualize a dog wagging their tail (or watch your dog), you can see many small muscles in their very low back activating and also they often need to compensate their balance slightly as the tail moves from side to side. So as Sam's tail wags, he's doing a "workout" of those muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels that might have been asleep for some time.
Here's to wagging tails!
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