Why Our Dogs Are Such Darn Messy Drinkers
Does your dog splash water everywhere when he drinks? Mine does, and it’s like a flood in the house. I swear when he sticks that long tongue in his water I find droplets on the other side of the room. I’ve often wondered why he can’t be taught some table manners and then I found out why.
(Newser) It seems that when grabbing a drink, neither cats nor dogs are able to squeeze their cheeks closed to suck up liquids the way humans can. Instead, they have to use their tongues in processes researchers didn’t understand until recently, Reuters reports.
Cats, researchers found a few years back, put their tongues on the surface of water and quickly pull it back out. This leads to a column of water that the animals grab with their mouths, shutting them over the water four times per second. “When we started this project, we thought that dogs drink similarly to cats,” a researcher says in a press release, as per Discovery.
“But it turns out that it’s different, because dogs smash their tongues on the water surface—they make lots of splashing,” he adds. When dogs do this, they drive water upward with an acceleration some five times that of gravity. Researchers investigated the process by placing a camera under the water’s surface. A large portion of a dog’s tongue hits the water, as opposed to just a small bit of a cat’s tongue. And the bigger the dog, the more water it can bring up, Discovery notes.
Once the water is moving, a dog, like a cat, closes its mouth over the water column. So that’s drinking; as for eating, here are some common foods—like grapes—you should never feed your dog or cat.
About Post Author
Carol Bell
More Stories
Does Your Dog Bite?
I try to take a dog with me wherever I go, including to class. I teach at the local university,...
When Dogs Are Barking
When four dogs set up a howl, I guarantee it will get your attention. The big question, however, is why...
Back to the Bark: Axel, Piper, and Tango Run Together Once Again
Oh, the wild and whimsical world of owning three spirited dogs, each a character in their own right! The morning...
Paws, Tails, and Trails: Exercising with Axel, Tango, and Piper
[caption id="attachment_188032" align="aligncenter" width="612"] Well-raised and trained Malinois are usually active, intelligent, friendly, protective, alert and hard-working.[/caption] Oh, the joys...
Paws in Pursuit of Justice: The Role of Police Dogs in Law Enforcement
The realm of law enforcement is an ever-changing landscape where the collaboration between humans and animals plays a crucial role...
A Dog Is Not Your Shield
Don't rely on a dog to protect you from the world. Dogs are wonderful companions, but they are not shields. The...
Yep!