Pups embody the perfect companion. They are loyal, empathetic, loving, and unbelievably selfless. It is no wonder then that they are man’s best friends.
Now, in addition to these natural attributes of theirs, there are some others that you probably don’t know about.
Here’s five of them:
- They Sneeze to Indicate Zero Aggression
You’ve probably noticed a bit of sneezing going on between pups when they are tangling together. They use these sneezes to communicate the playful nature of their entanglement.
This helps to prevent things from getting out of hand. It’s really not about dust or pollen in the air. Other interesting signals would include stretching out their paws; if a pup does this to you, it’s an indication of friendliness or invitation to play.
- Dogs aren’t Big Huggers
Hugging or putting your arms around the shoulders of your pet means something altogether different to them. They enjoy other types of physical contact, but hugging is seen as an attempt to dominate.
You would sometimes notice a pup place his foreleg over the shoulder of another pup. The position is called “standing over” is a form of assertive or superior behavior.
A better way to show physical affection is scratching behind their ear or rubbing their belly.
- Humans and Dogs Share a Similarity In the Locations of the Brain that Responds to Vocalization
According to researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the reason why pups can understand your happy sounds is that they have sections in their brain that respond to vocalization.
This allows your pups to react differently to you based on the various voice tones that you use depending on the emotion that you’re feeling. Furthermore, these regions are located in a similar area to the human brain.
- The Wetness of Dogs’ Noses Helps them Absorb Scent Chemicals
This answers a riddle that has probably crossed your mind several times. Pups have a wet nose because it helps them absorb scent chemicals.
The nose initially secretes a specific mucus for the sole purpose of absorbing the chemical. Once the mucus has done its work, your pup then licks his nose to ascertain the exact nature of the smell.
Now the folktales can finally go to rest.
- Dogs Can Actually See Colors
Popular belief is that dogs only see in monochrome and they detect outlines in objects using the difference in brightness.
However, this is not entirely true. Following the discovery of scientist Jay Neitz that dogs’ eyes possess two cones, researchers at the Russian Academy of Science performed their own experiments.
They selected eight dogs of different breeds and sizes and tested their eyesight. Using four pieces of paper, all four of different colors, they used this to detect whether dogs identified via brightness or color.
6 out of the 8 dogs picked based on color 9 or 10 out of 10 total times.
