Why dogs stick their heads out of car windows
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Transcript
For dogs too, getting out and about excites their wild senses. And for such intelligent animals, you can't beat a road trip. While we are obsessed with visual landmarks, they focus only on scents. We have a measly six million smell receptors, but a dog's nose contains 300 million.
They use it to unravel stories about the world around them. Predictably, most are about food.
Forty times more of their brain than ours is devoted to deciphering smells.
They home in on those with special significance. A single chemical aldehyde found in blood makes this one-time hunter drool.
There is a way to bring their smelly world to life. Schlieren photography visualises the air currents that carry odours and shows the remarkable workings of a dog's nose. Dogs breathe out through the side slits in their nostrils. As the expelled air rotates, it helps draw more scent into the nose. This two-way current helps a dog gather scent almost continuously. But that's not all.
A male can smell a female in heat at concentrations of one part in a trillion.
Licking helps capture more of her alluring scent. His tongue takes the odour to a second smell organ in the mouth, hardwired to the brain and tuned to these sexual pheromones. It's love at first sniff.
For dogs, being a passenger rivals any wild experience, but it can be tinged with disappointment too.
The streets of Paris may be full of romantic promise, but pet dogs are seldom in control of their destiny.
Love may be in the air, but it's so rarely fulfilled.
© BBC
Yes, I’ve had pets my whole life — one rabbit and two turtles. Nowadays, I have a dog named Rocky. He’s my new pet, and I love him! He fills my life with happiness.
I had three turtles in 2020. When they grew in 2022, I moved them to my grandma’s garden.
Yes, I had one dog and now I have another one. The name of my first dog was Fanny. She came to my home when I was five years old.
She grew up with me, and I grew up with her. She was my first lesson about love. When she was old, she started having seizures that affected her health and quality of life. So, we had to euthanize her. It was very, very hard. One week later, my mom brought me my current dog, Fleca. When she came home, she was so little that she fit in my hand. Now, she is fifteen years old — an old dog, but still full of energy.
Dogs are the best "people" in the world ;)
I have a lovely dog, Choco. He's obsessed with getting out and about, and meeting pals. Never seen him barking at other dogs. <3
That "people" part made me cry. So true.
Yes, I had two Pet dogs. They were wonderful Pet. I miss them
Yes i have it's cats. two kitten
Yes, I can say that I have a pet. It is a cat. I wouldn't know it could be "PET". But, I usually feed them and always love them. This cat just randomly comes to my house and stays there, the cat even has a kitten.
Yes, I have had a pet before. When I was a child, my family had a golden retriever named Max. Max was incredibly friendly and full of energy. We would often take him for long walks in the park, where he loved to chase after his favorite ball. He had a special way of making everyone in the family feel happy, especially when he greeted us with his wagging tail every time we came home
Yes, I have had a pet before. When I was a child, my family had a golden retriever named Max. Max was incredibly friendly and full of energy. We would often take him for long walks in the park, where he loved to chase after his favorite ball. He had a special way of making everyone in the family feel happy, especially when he greeted us with his wagging tail every time we came home. Having Max as a pet taught me a lot about responsibility, compassion, and the joy that animals can bring into our lives. He truly was a beloved member of our family.
Hi guys & girls. I also used to have a dog when I was a little boy. Now I am a grown up but the reason I don't have a pet is about the age, it is hidden in the last lines of the video above - the pets are not able to live life Mother Nature has created them for and to follow their animal instincts. In fact they are gently forced to do what pleases their owners - humans. I've many times witnessed how my friends, pets owners, cut their dogs' ears, tails, neuter them, you know it, for their dogs' good. I really don't want to think what all that feels like from a dog's perspective. But does it seem a good life, at least it is not my idea of it. Sorry for being that candid but that is just like me. Val