Dog parents usually underestimate their companion’s tongue. As a matter of fact, a dog’s tongue can always surprise you in different ways. A dog’s tongue, like any other organ, is an important one, which carries out multiple functions like swallowing, eating and even regulating their body temperature.

Here are some interesting facts about your dog’s tongue that you probably did not know about.

Dog’s tongue influences the sound of the bark

Similar to how human’s tongue influences the way they speak, a dog’s tongue has a major role to pay in influencing the sound of his bark. It has been noticed that the size of the tongue influences the sound of your dog’s bark. Additionally, the way they use their tongue can be used to understand their health statistics. For instance, if your dog hangs his tongue out a lot, it might indicate a dental infection. On the flip side, if he hides his tongue and appears to be ‘clenched mouth’, he can be tensed.

Grooming

Dog’s use their tongue to groom themselves. Even though it is not as effective as compared to how cats use their tongue to groom, it can still be handy when it comes to removing the debris or shedding the fur. If you observe that your dog has been using his tongue to groom himself on a consistent basis, as a responsible dog parent, you need to consider this as a sign that he needs some assistance and should help him to groom.

Apart from cleaning themselves via grooming, dogs also use their tongue to disinfect wounds in addition to helping them removing the dirt and debris. The saliva in the dog’s tongue contains some compounds that can help to kill bacteria.

Taste buds

Even though dogs mostly identify and choose food based on the smell. A dog’s tongue carries most of the taste buds, which is used to taste bitter, salty, sweet and sour. A dog’s tongue carries more taste buds than a cat, it is far less when compared to humans.

An ability to taste bitterness is considered to be vital as in nature, anything that tastes bitter is considered to be unhealthy or poisonous. This is one of the reasons why your dog refuses to take pills. As a pet parent, one strategy to get your dog to eat those pills is by wrapping it up in a sausage or cheese.

Temperature regulation

A dog’s tongue plays a crucial role in regulating his body temperature. You might have noticed your dog panting after a training or playful session. As dogs are usually furry, they cannot sweat through their normal skin to regulate the temperature. This is where the tongue comes in handy. When your dog sticks out his tongue, it acts as a radiator via which the evaporation of water takes place. This results in the bringing down the body temperature.

It’s the perfect ladle

Dogs tongue act as a perfect ladle to drink water. Dogs drink water differently when compared to cats. While cats use the tip of the tongue to pull and eventually snap the water in, the dog uses his tongue similar to a ladle to take in water. The whole process happens quickly so that it is hard to notice how the dog shapes his tongue in the form of a ladle; this is something that also makes your dog a messy drinker.

Let us know what you think about this post and feel free to share any crazy facts about dogs tongue that we have missed.