Like human beings every body part of a doggy has its own significance. With the aid of a dog's ears, eyes and tails we can interpret their feelings. But what about their tongue? The tongue is not there just for the sake of decoration, but there are several fascinating functions that it performs. Let us look at some of the ways that dogs utilize their tongues straight from their mouth.
Home Of The Taste Buds
Dogs have an amazing sense of taste just like humans. So if you find them spitting a pill, it is because they sense that the pill is bitter in taste. Just like us, dog's tongue is covered with small bumps called papillae. Each papillae consists of different clusters of taste buds and each taste bud has taste receptor cells. These receptor cells convey messages to a specific area in the brain that assists them in detecting odors or tastes for evaluation purpose. This makes dogs to differentiate between salt, sweet, bitter and sour. These taste buds also assist them to avoid things that are potentially dangerous for their health.
A Cooling Mechanism
Along with the ability to perceive taste, dog's tongue also enables him to cool down, especially during the hot summer days. Humans sweat helps to cool down the temperature while dogs stick out their tongues and start panting. The dog's tongue is kept moist due to the presence of four pairs of salivary glands that release saliva in the mouth.
During hot days, the tongue acts like a thermostat and with the aid of the swift, shallow breaths the air flows to their tongue resulting in saliva and moisture to evaporate. With the aid of the evaporation of water with the aid of the tongue, water, and upper respiratory tract, dogs are able to cool down. But the panting is not done only when the temperature is hot, but it is even done when they are stressed out. So, remember a panting dog is not a happy one.
Lapping Up Water
Humans just gulp down the water with tongue staying nicely in the mouth. This is because we have cheeks to enable suction. But dogs do not have that luxury so they stick out their tongues instead. It may seem to you that dogs drink sloppily as they wipe down away random splashes by the water bowl. But the dog's tongue functions differently. They plunge their tongue in water and then the upper side of their tongue coils up to bring up a ladle of water in their mouth. They then swiftly bite down to acquire the water and repeat the cycle of lap and gulp. It has been researched and found out that dogs are very swift at accelerating their tongues upward in fact better than cats.
To Greet People
Your doggy licks you whenever he sees you coming home after work. We call it "doggy kisses". But dogs perceive it differently. Dogs use their tongues since a very young age. Mother dog licks the new born puppies when they are born. After making it to the birth canal, mother dog licks the puppies rigorously so that they can be stimulated to breath and eliminate as due to their young age they cannot do this activity.
With age, these puppies lick the mother dog's mouth. During this weaning period mother dog regurgitate to feed the puppies. So the next time your furry pal kisses you note that it is not necessarily to regurgitate, but if their tails are wagging and they are looking happy then it is a sign of friendliness and a sincere compliment coming from your pooch from the tip of their tongues.
Home Of The Taste Buds
Dogs have an amazing sense of taste just like humans. So if you find them spitting a pill, it is because they sense that the pill is bitter in taste. Just like us, dog's tongue is covered with small bumps called papillae. Each papillae consists of different clusters of taste buds and each taste bud has taste receptor cells. These receptor cells convey messages to a specific area in the brain that assists them in detecting odors or tastes for evaluation purpose. This makes dogs to differentiate between salt, sweet, bitter and sour. These taste buds also assist them to avoid things that are potentially dangerous for their health.
A Cooling Mechanism
Along with the ability to perceive taste, dog's tongue also enables him to cool down, especially during the hot summer days. Humans sweat helps to cool down the temperature while dogs stick out their tongues and start panting. The dog's tongue is kept moist due to the presence of four pairs of salivary glands that release saliva in the mouth.
During hot days, the tongue acts like a thermostat and with the aid of the swift, shallow breaths the air flows to their tongue resulting in saliva and moisture to evaporate. With the aid of the evaporation of water with the aid of the tongue, water, and upper respiratory tract, dogs are able to cool down. But the panting is not done only when the temperature is hot, but it is even done when they are stressed out. So, remember a panting dog is not a happy one.
Lapping Up Water
Humans just gulp down the water with tongue staying nicely in the mouth. This is because we have cheeks to enable suction. But dogs do not have that luxury so they stick out their tongues instead. It may seem to you that dogs drink sloppily as they wipe down away random splashes by the water bowl. But the dog's tongue functions differently. They plunge their tongue in water and then the upper side of their tongue coils up to bring up a ladle of water in their mouth. They then swiftly bite down to acquire the water and repeat the cycle of lap and gulp. It has been researched and found out that dogs are very swift at accelerating their tongues upward in fact better than cats.
To Greet People
Your doggy licks you whenever he sees you coming home after work. We call it "doggy kisses". But dogs perceive it differently. Dogs use their tongues since a very young age. Mother dog licks the new born puppies when they are born. After making it to the birth canal, mother dog licks the puppies rigorously so that they can be stimulated to breath and eliminate as due to their young age they cannot do this activity.
With age, these puppies lick the mother dog's mouth. During this weaning period mother dog regurgitate to feed the puppies. So the next time your furry pal kisses you note that it is not necessarily to regurgitate, but if their tails are wagging and they are looking happy then it is a sign of friendliness and a sincere compliment coming from your pooch from the tip of their tongues.
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