tailwagging

Question
Hi Cindi,
It's your friend Blue again. Hope you and your's are well! Our
adoption of Xena is going along very well; she seems to be happy to be with us and bonding very well. She's a joy with excellent manners, she heels pretty well, and plays well. She's pretty confident without being dominating.
One question we have is that she doesn't wag her tail much; I'm sure she's not unhappy. She prances and loves to play; she's very affectionate; she seems truly content when we are all in the same room. She just doesn't wag her tail. There's nothing wrong with it, she just doesn't wag it. Does this give any insight into her personality? I've never seen this in a dog before. She seems to be totally at home with us but is this a sign of anything we should be aware of? She IS seven years old though, is this an older dog thing?
Thanks!
Blue, Elana, and Xena

Answer
Hi blue, so nice to hear from you and yours again. This is definitely not an age thing. I'll tell you a strange thing. I have two GSD females who do not wag their tails, never have not even when they were pups. I have to say this is the only breed that I have ever seen display this behavior and I've seen a lot of dogs. I have a few ideas about it, but they are only ideas. Way back in the 60's (boy did I just date myself) we had a huge white GSD who was a retired police dog. The only time I ever saw that dog wag his tail was in pursuit of someone he wanted to bite, or when my dad put him on alert. Then he would very slowly thump his tail a  time or two and then get really still. I honestly believe that possibly GSD's just don't communicate like other breeds. Now I'm not saying NO GSD wags it's tail, or that no other breed refrains from wagging, but I do know that two of mine do not. They are both loving, friendly, non aggressive , well behaved girls. One is about nine months and one is three years. They move their heads, smile, make eye contact and have other ways of showing they are happy but I have never never seen either of them wag even a little bit. My male will wag, but not when he has collar and leash on. Then he considers himself in working mode and is serious in all aspects. He will lay on the floor and look at you and do the slow thump thing when you look at him or say his name. Maybe your girl will wag when she is more completely at home with you , or maybe, like mine, NOT LOL. I wish I had the answer to this but I think it will take somebody smarter than I am to figure it out. My nine month old will wash the skin off of you and whine and carry on when she's happy,but no wagging. On the other hand I have a two year old girl who will wag her ENTIRE body until you think parts are going to fall off. Go figure. Irregardless, I don't think you have anything to be concerned about. And thanks so much for the update!
BTW, I am going to research this further for curiosities sake, both mine and yours!
Cindi