One thing that a lot of people can’t seem to get over with for some reason is… bumping into cold wet dog nose! They’re so cold, wet and mucousy. And I love dogs, please don’t get me wrong, but for some reason, this is something I couldn’t get over with for a long time. Well, things dramatically changed when I found out why dogs noses are always wet.
In short, dogs are supposed to have wet (or mucousy) noses due to the fact that it helps them achieve more and feel better in many ways. But it’s way more complicated than that. If you would like to know more, continue reading.
Should My Dogs Nose Be Wet?
First thing is, their sense of smell is up to a hundred thousand times more sensitive than ours. That is a ton! Think of all the things you smell and then think about how intense those smells must be to your dog. I wish I could ever experience that for a day! Compared to something vision wise – it would be the equal of them being able to see 3000 miles further than us.
Right, but where does the wet dog’s nose come in?
Think about it – when something is wet it tends to attract more germs and other similar micro smelly stuff. And those germs are always flying around us but we don’t see it because it’s too small. Having a wet surface (a dog’s nose in our case) is helpful because it’s much easier for the smelly micro stuff to stick to it.
Now, the same principles apply to the dog nose – when it is wet, smelly particles get attracted and stick on to the nose. It helps a dog to figure out where the sense is coming from, and decide whether she wants it, and, most importantly, which direction to go for it.
A Way To Cool Down Body
Another thing that the nose helps dogs with is cooling down their body temperature. You know dogs don’t sweat
So, to clarify – dogs are able to secrete some stuff through their toe pads and also panting, but it will also make dogs noses wet. Their noses will also get wet and will play a big role in helping dogs cool themselves down. So that’s pretty cool, don’t you think?
But My Dog’s Nose Is really Wet. Should I be Alarmed?
Have you listened to your dog sneeze? Or does he have a runny nose that even snore? Well, your dog may have a stuffy nose but this does not always lead to a cold. Although, it is annoying for the animal and could be the cause of a respiratory infection. If these signs happen you should take your pet to the veterinarian for further treatment.
Another thing is that the mucus on dog’s nose changes throughout the day and is not consistent. Sometimes it’ll be dry and then sometimes it’ll be wet. It’s just like us sweating – we don’t sweat all day, only certain times of a day.
Dog’s Nose Facts
- Can inhale and exhale at the same time.
- Can smell invisible: anxiety, sadness, and fear.
- Has a special scent-detecting organ (vomeronasal organ).
- Can smell separate odor profiles with each nostril.
- Just like human fingerprints, dogs’ noses are unique.
- Main organ responsible for survival.
- Can smell up to 100,000 times better than us.
- Short-nosed breeds have less developed smell senses.
- Ability to separate air – for respiration and sensing.
Dog’s Nose functions
Dogs have a completely different nose make-up than we do. Meaning, when we take a breathe in and smell something we then release the breath right away. While this may be true to humans, dogs noses have two different functionalities:
- Respiration purposes. It is dedicated to breathing, oxygen intake.
- Sensing area. It takes, digests and distinguishes scents to figures what it is and if they want it. (And the dogs 99% of the time are – yes, they do want it and they will go find it, right?!)
So next time your dog puts his big (or small) and mucousy nose on you just think about how many cool things he can do with that!
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