A dog's tongue mainly functions to dissipate heat

The organ dogs rely on the most is their nose. It can be said that a dog's sensitive sense of smell is indispensable in their life. As for a dog's tongue, it may not seem outstanding, but its role is somewhat different from that of the human tongue. Our taste depends on the tongue, while the taste nerves on a dog's tongue are not well developed. Their tongue mainly serves as sweat glands.

A dog's sense of taste is not prominent. We can see that when dogs encounter new food, the first thing they do is not to directly eat it, but to smell it first. Additionally, by observing a dog's eating habits, we can understand this issue. Dogs often eat hastily, swallowing larger pieces of food first, then drinking something watery, with very quick actions. Dogs have very sharp teeth capable of tearing raw meat, and their teeth are not as smooth as ours.

Although their taste is not very good, a dog's tongue still plays a very important role, which is to regulate their own body temperature. They stick out their long tongue and pant heavily to regulate their temperature. Dogs themselves do not have well-developed sweat glands, and the tongue is one of the few organs that dissipate heat. After hot weather or intense exercise, dogs will stick out their tongue, drooling from it while repeatedly and rapidly breathing. They regulate body temperature by adjusting their breathing rate.

Even though a dog's sense of taste is poor, it does not mean their tongue has no taste ability. Once a flavor reaches a certain intensity, dogs can still distinguish it. The meals we cook contain various seasonings, so the flavor is naturally stronger than dog food and can stimulate a dog's taste more. This is also why many dogs refuse dog food after tasting the food people eat because after sampling human food, dog food seems bland to them.

Also, the habit of eating hastily is just a dog's eating habit, not because they are really very hungry. So do not feed your dog without restraint, which could lead to overeating and problems like obesity.