Watch Dogs Groove: Can Dogs Dance?

When it comes to discussing dancing, it's essential to first understand a dog's attitude towards music.

Personality

As you may have noticed, even siblings from the same litter can have vastly different personalities. Dogs, much like humans, exhibit this diversity. Consequently, their personalities can significantly influence whether a dog is sensitive to music, indifferent, or even repelled by it.

Owner's Influence

Most animal behavior experts believe that a dog's sensitivity to music is largely influenced by its owner. It's not uncommon to hear that dogs raised by owners who frequently listen to music may not respond to folk songs, as they are subtly influenced by the music environment they are consistently exposed to.

Experiments

It's true; there have been experiments conducted by professionals to study the relationship between dogs and music.

Decades ago, a group of German scientists investigated whether dogs could discern music. They set up a facility with blue and yellow lights, as these are the colors most easily detected by dogs. These lights flickered in sync with the music's rhythm, and the participating dogs exhibited a variety of tailwagging behaviors.

Don't be surprised by this; from a biological standpoint, tail wagging is a classic unconscious behavior, akin to a baby's instinct to suckle. This unconscious behavior often reflects a dog's true feelings, suggesting that dogs can indeed understand music.

Of course, not all music is suitable for dogs. Many dogs show little interest in heavy metal, especially music with high frequencies that can be piercing to them, essentially becoming noise.

Dolphins

Among mammals, only dolphins can react to music and move in rhythm with it, which is what we refer to as dancing.

While no one has specifically researched whether dogs can dance, the experiments mentioned above indicate that if dogs do dance, it would be their tails that are moving. From a human perspective, this tail movement might be considered dancing, but that's as far as it goes. To dance, one needs music as a backdrop and the ability to move in time with the rhythm, which, unfortunately, dogs have not yet evolved to do.

Why do some dogs exhibit such behaviors?

Because it's a common symptom of canine distemper, a condition that affects dogs.