Why do dogs have cold noses?

Why do dogs have cold, wet noses? A myth connecting the belief that a dog with a wet nose is healthy, and that the one with a dry nose is not, exists for centuries. Science explains quite a lot of why dogs usually have cold, wet noses. Contrary to the popular belief, the dog’s nose does not sweat or moisture. The nose gets wet just because the dog licks his nose. In this way he moisturizes it with his saliva, which helps maintain the moisture level. Because your dog’s nose has to be licked to be wet, a dog that has been sleeping for some time often wakes up with a dry nose.

Your dog licks his nose because it actually improves his ability to smell things. For the most part, the fragrances are transferred on the particles floating in the air. Having a wet nose helps capturing these small fragrance particles in the same way that a damp cloth collects the dust better than a dry cloth. The presence of fragrance particles stuck to the nostrils increases the dog’s ability to detect odors, which is probably due to the fact that dogs which have the strongest sense of smell are rarely found with a dry nose. Another advantage of having fragrance particles stuck to the moist surface of the nose is that when the dog licks the nose again to renew the moisture level, part of the fragrance information from the particles on the nose are transferred to the mouth. After entering the mouth, these scents can then be interpreted by an additional fragrance gland, which is located on the palate. There is another important reason why dogs usually have wet noses. As you might have expected, in hot weather the dogs do not cool themselves by sweating as people do. Sweat helps to cool a person because when the water evaporates, a place that stays becomes cooler. As dogs only have sweat glands on their foot pads, when the temperature rises they start to pant, and the water evaporating from their tongue and mouth helps to keep cool. If the dog’s nose is wet the evaporating of the moisture on its surface will cause the body to cool down. It is useful, as the dog’s nose is not covered with fur and its whole surface is covered with blood vessels and capillaries. The cooling of the nose lowers the temperature of the blood in it, thus cooling the whole body.  However, there are situations when even a healthy dog can have a dry nose and a higher temperature. What situations are those? – when the dog stays in the air-conditioned rooms or when the radiators are on. – then the temperatures are high. That is why when you go on a walk with the dog on a hot day, remember to oil his nose with a protective balsam for animals; when the dog is dehydrated – always make sure that he regularly drinks water. Dry nose may suggest that the pet is not hydrated properly; when our dog digs in the dirt a lot and irritates the tissue – which happens often with active dogs with the tendency to rub their noses against the ground, digging or putting their mount into the bushes –when the dog is asleep, because he can’t lick his nose and spread the moisture. Within 10 minutes after waking up, the temperature and moisture should go back to normal. Remember that a dry and warm nose should not be the basis for his health assessment. It often happens that dogs with cool and moist noses are sick, so do not take into consideration only the nose’s temperature and moisture – just watch your dogs and their behavior carefully, so that you can react in a proper moment and help them.

Array