Dogs are one of our favourite pets. You must have seen them panting with their tongue hanging out, especially when there is hot weather. They don’t do it out of habit, its their main mechanism for temperature regulation.
Dogs have very few sweat glands, present mainly in pads of their paws. Their fur acts like an insulator too, making heat loss more challanging. When they pant, the air moves across the wet surface of their upper respiratory tract, where the moisture evaporates taking heat away from the body and the body cools down. An increase in respiratory rate is also noted, which helps to move more air over the moist surfaces. The blood flow increases to the tongue.As more warm blood circulates towards the tongue from the body, evaporation occurs at the tongue’s surface and cooler blood returns to the body. All this happens during panting and helps in cooling down the body.
However, if a dog is panting continuosly at rest, when the weather is not too hot, or there is no other obvious reason, it can be a cause of concern and can point toward an underlying health problem.
We sweat and dogs pant! Nature has its own way of ensuring that essential processes continue in all living beings.
What other behaviours have you observed in animals?
MBH/AS