Dog

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Miscellaneous facts

Treats

Many dogs consider anything given them directly by hand to be a treat, even the food they are accustomed to at meal time. Special dog treats are not necessary for such animals. Care should also be taken to avoid dropping small but inedible objects (such as marbles, coins, rings, etc.) around such dogs.

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If a dog has something valuable (rings, money, irreplaceable items), a treat should be used to "barter" with the dog to retrieve the stolen item. Chasing a dog will encourage play behavior, which may cause the item to be swallowed or destroyed.

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Dogs and temperature regulation

A common misconception is that dogs do not sweat. Primarily, dogs regulate their body temperature in a completely different way, through their tongue. That is why after a dog has been running or on a hot day, its mouth will be seen wide open with the tongue hanging out. This is a very efficient form of cooling in terms of maximizing heat lost while conserving moisture, because it carries heat from the hottest part of the body, the interior core of the thorax, compared to sweating, which cools the already coolest part of the body, the skin. Besides being intuitively correct, this higher efficiency of thermal loss in terms of moisture conservation stems from heat flow being proportional to temperature gradient in a given system. In addition, dogs effectively sweat through the pads of their feet, since they are not furred. Again, on a warm day and after exercise, a dog's naturally wet footprints might be visible on a smooth floor.

Related Topics:
Sweat - Thorax - Heat flow being proportional to temperature gradient

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Dogs possess a rete mirabile in the carotid sinus at the base of their neck, a complex of intermingled small arteries and veins which acts as a heat exchanger to thermally isolate the head, containing the brain, the most temperature sensitive organ, from the body, containing the muscles, where most of the heat is generated. The net result is that dogs can sustain a high degree of physical exertion over a prolonged time in a hot environment, compared to animals which lack this apparatus; thus, a dog chasing a jackrabbit through the desert may not be able to outrun the rabbit, but it can continue the chase until the rabbit literally drops dead from overheating.

Related Topics:
Rete mirabile - Carotid sinus - Heat exchanger - Head - Brain - Body - Muscle - Jackrabbit - Desert

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A fine sense of direction

It has been observed that a lost dog can often find its way home, sometimes traveling over long distances.

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Weather Detection

Dogs also have the ability to sense inclement weather (mainly thunderstorms) many miles away. This is due to their keen ability to detect fluctuations in barometric pressure and can explain a dog's anxiety before and during a storm. The evolutionary ability of sensing weather can be traced back to when wolves used it to move the pack into proper shelter before a dangerous storm.

Related Topics:
Inclement - Thunderstorms - Barometric pressure

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