Dogs are lovable, playful, and often considered a person’s best friend, but there’s so much more to them than meets the eye. These fascinating creatures are full of surprises. Here are some fun and unexpected facts about our canine companions.
Dogs have taste buds for water
A human’s sense of taste is better developed than that of a dog, to compare, humans have about 9000 taste buds, dogs about 1700. Just like humans they can taste the five universally accepted basic tastes: sour, salt, bitter, sweet and umami. However, they have additional taste buds geared towards water that we humans don’t have. These special taste buds are most sensitive after eating salty and sugary foods, making it more inviting for dogs to drink water after eating salty food to flush the salt out of the body. These special taste buds are found in the tip of the tongue, where the tongue curls to lap up water.
Dogs can sniff out certain diseases.
The primary sense of dogs is their sense of smell. With about one eighth of their brains being dedicated to smell, and around 300 million olfactory (smell) receptors, compared to the 5 million us humans have, their sense of smell is so precise it can even detect certain health issues in humans such as diabetes, cancer, narcolepsy, migraines, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease by sniffing at their breath, skin, or body fluids.
A 30-minute walk dedicated to sniffing, can be as tiring as a one-hour walk without sniffing.
Sniffing is a great mental exercise . As read above, about one eighth of a dog’s brain is dedicated to smell, so giving your dog the chance to sniff is a great way to stimulate them. A 30-minute walk dedicated to sniffing which stimulates the brain, can be as tiring as a one-hour walk without sniffing which only focuses on physical exercise. Sniffing also activates the part of the brain that releases dopamine, which is the hormone that makes you feel good. An increased level of dopamine will boost motivation, mood, and help regulate emotional responses.
Dogs can see blue and yellow
While it was initially assumed dogs were fully colour blind, this is not the case. Dogs possess two types of cones in their eyes for colour perception, making them able to see the colours blue and yellow. Human eyes have three types of cones, making us able to see combinations of blue, red, and green..
A wagging tail doesn’t always equal a happy dog.
A wagging tail doesn’t always mean a happy dog. Canine body language should be interpreted as a whole, considering other signals and the surrounding context. While a dog that is happy often wags, a wagging tail can sometimes also be seen in dogs that are feeling insecure, are fearful, or even as a warning. Tail communication is complex. Studies suggest that the direction of the wag matters due to the way the brain functions. When observed from behind, confident and happy dogs tend to wag to the right, while fearful dogs wag to the left. To truly understand what a dog is communicating through its tail, we must look at its entire body, the signals it’s sending, and the situation it’s in.
Dogs barely lose heat through sweating
Heat loss through evaporation takes place through panting and sweating. Sweat is created by a sweat gland, and there are 2 main types of sweat glands seen in mammals, which are the eccrine glands and the apocrine glands. The eccrine glands main purpose is body temperature control, and to achieve this it secretes a fluid known as sweat. Humans have eccrine glands all over their body, and one of our main ways to lose body heat is through evaporation by sweating. Dogs however only have these eccrine glands in the paw pads, and their main sweat gland which is found all over their body is the apocrine gland. The apocrine glands main role is to release pheromones which helps them communicate with other dogs, and not to secrete a fluid that helps regulate their temperature, which makes that heat loss through sweating is minimal for them. The main way dogs lose heat through evaporation is by panting. By panting, the evaporation of fluid in the upper respiratory tract may account for 60% of their heat dissipation. As this form of heat loss uses a lot of water from the body, it’s important to hydrate well.
A yawn may indicate your dog is feeing stressed
Yawning, like lip licking, smiling, lip smacking, and other subtle behaviors, is sometimes used as a calming signal in dogs. These small signals often appear when a dog is feeling stressed, nervous, or uncomfortable. Dogs use them when interacting with each other, or when engaging with humans.
When a dog displays calming signals, they may be trying to tell you:
- “I’m calming myself down.”
- “I’m feeling scared or stressed—let’s go.”
- “Please get me out of this situation.”
- “Don’t hurt me, I’m not a threat”
Conclusion
Dogs are interesting animals, and by understanding them better, we can provide them with the care they require. Would you like to read more about dogs, have a look at our blog on: https://pawpals.ae/category/about-dogs