A Dog’s Panting Habit
Dogs don’t sweat like we do. To deal with the heat, humans make use of a very important method – sweating. When we sweat, the moisture that is produced on the skin’s surface evaporates causing excess heat to be dispersed from the body. Our furry friends cannot manage excess body heat this way. There is a misconception that dogs do not have the capability to produce sweat. There is an assumption that because of the fur it would not be possible for the dog to sweat. You may have had dogs for years but it is highly probable that you have not seen one sweating. Dogs have sweat glands but they are very few and mostly found on the paw pads. This means that dogs can sweat. Dog paws wet with sweat can be seen marking pavements on hot days.
What do dogs do to cope with the heat? Dogs bark and dogs pant. Dogs uses panting as a one of a kind cooling system that ensures the circulation of cooler blood to all parts of the body to regulate temperature. A dog that pants needs very little energy. When the dog lolls the tongue, the cooling system switch will be turned on and excess body heat will be gone. The tongue therefore plays a very important role on how a dog manages the heat.
Because of the location of the very few sweat glands, a dog cannot cool the body if it is running on hot pavement. In this case, regulating body temperature will be achieved by the tongue. When the tongue is lolled, evaporation is facilitated on its surface. Air that cools the mouth and the blood vessels on the head is created when the dog pants. The blood made colder by panting is now circulated throughout the dog’s body the dissipating the heat and maintaining the normal body temperature.
There are other reasons why dogs pant. Hot weather causes dogs to pant excessively. Dogs loll out their tongues when excited, when stressed or after a strenuous exercise. The physical structures of short faced dogs requires them to pant excessively. Seizures, heart and lung diseases are other reasons why a dog would pant.
Although panting is a normal behavior, an owner still needs to be observant. A panting dog may be suffering from heatstroke. Dogs cannot cope well with high temperatures. Left inside a car, a dog would pant heavily further heating up the confined space. A lot of dogs have died from heatstroke.
robbie on July 30th 2010 in Dog Ownership, Dog behavior
