It is really difficult for one to be completely logical and consistent. Improbably Research carries the following posting.
Dogs with a wider angle of wag are at risk
January 15th, 2015
This study focuses public attention on the (hitherto largely ignored) concept of wider angle of wag:
“Risk factors for tail injuries in dogs in Great Britain,” G. Diesel, D. Pfeiffer, S. Crispin and D. Brodbelt, Veterinary Record, vol. 166, no. 26, June 26, 2010, pp. 812-7. The authors report:
“Data were obtained from a stratified random sample of veterinary practices throughout Great Britain, and questionnaires were sent to owners of dogs with tail injuries and owners of a randomly selected sample of dogs without tail injuries…. Two hundred and eighty-one tail injuries were recorded from a population of 138,212 dogs attending 52 participating practices….. Dogs with a wide angle of wag and dogs kept in kennels were at significantly higher risk of sustaining a tail injury. Dogs with docked tails were significantly less likely to sustain a tail injury.”
See the problem with the logic? One hundred percent of the "Dogs with docked tails...." were injured (ask your dog!); thus, they cannot be "...significantly less likely to sustain a tail injury."
From which deduce : the more WAGS you have, the more likely you are to get hurt?
FYI : WAG is the UK abbreviation for Wives And Girlfriends
Posted by: Ole Phat Stu | January 16, 2015 at 11:21 AM
Very scientific!
Posted by: Hatti | January 16, 2015 at 11:49 AM
Hmmm, Stu, as I have no wives and no girlfriends, I deduce that I am safe! Oh, wait, maybe there is something about having HABs?
Hattie--There is odd stuff on the Improbable Research site!
Posted by: Cop Car | January 16, 2015 at 02:19 PM
HAB 8 means "pay attention!" in German, if that's a clue ;-)
Posted by: Ole Phat Stu | January 17, 2015 at 01:50 AM
eight??? wow. watch out!!
Posted by: M.E. | January 17, 2015 at 07:24 AM
OMG - and they got money for this research. I could have told them everything they needed to know.
Posted by: bogie | January 18, 2015 at 06:58 AM
Stu--Is "HAB 8" akin to "Check 6"?
ME--Ich habe nur eine. (Before Stu jumps on it, what I'm trying to say is, "I have only one.")
Bogie--Get out there...win those grants!
Addition of 1/18/2015 4:20pm: Since Hunky Husband is the "only one" whom I have, Stu reminds me that I should have written, "Ich habe nur einer." Thanks for the gentle reminder, Stu.
Posted by: Cop Car | January 18, 2015 at 10:39 AM
Since Hunky Husband is the "only one" whom I have, Stu reminds me that I should have written, "Ich habe nur einer." Thanks for the gentle reminder, Stu.
Repeating because, since I just added to an old comment, I'm not sure that Stu saw my "Thank you!"
Posted by: Cop Car | January 23, 2015 at 03:30 PM