Tag Archives: cold wet nose in dogs

Mythbusters Canine Editions – Part 1

There’s lots of stuff “everybody knows” about dogs. Some of it’s true. These are not:

A cold, wet nose is the sign of a healthy dog

French Bulldog nose

Healthy dogs’ noses can be warm or cold, wet or dry.

Healthy dogs’ noses vary. If they’re sleeping or just waking up, their noses may be warm.  If they’re running around, active, panting, their noses may be warm. Temperature also goes up and down through the day – just as ours do. When we’re active our noses are warmer than when we’re sedentary. Similarly, the moisture of a dog’s nose varies throughout the day. A dog with a dry nose may be perfectly healthy, just as one with a wet nose may actually have a respiratory infection or other disease process going on. Noses just aren’t a very good indicator of a dog’s health. It’s much better to rely on better indicators; is the dog eating, drinking, pooping, active, etc. In other words, if your dog is acting normally, don’t worry about the temperature or dampness of his/her nose.

Dogs age 7 years to every human year

old dog

Seven to one isn’t really a good ratio for comparing dogs’ ages to humans’.

Not really. A one-year-old dog is probably more mature than a seven-year-old child. And athree-year-old dog may or may not be fully adult. It also depends on the dog’s size. Smaller dogs tend to have longer life spans than larger ones. It’s not unusual for a Chihuahua to live into its late teens or early 20s. A Great Dane may be geriatric at eight. Dogs also tend to mature at different rates. While most are as long and as tall as they’re going to get by about eight months, dogs will still “fill out” and mature for about another year and a half. Dogs aren’t really “adults” at one year old, even though they may have reached their adult size.

Dogs eat grass to settle their stomachs

French bulldog sniffing dandelion

Dogs don’t need to graze on your lawn. It’s not good for either one.

No. Domestic dogs don’t really know how to self-medicate if they don’t feel well. Eating grass is normal dog behavior, according to experts. But it doesn’t mean they don’t feel well, need to vomit, or are lacking fiber or other nutrition in their diets. It’s pretty much just something dogs do. Most of ours promptly throw up after eating grass and we’ve looked at them and said “We told you so!” more than once while cleaning up the mess. Not all dogs throw up after grass eating and there doesn’t seem to be any adverse effect for most.

However – it’s not a good idea, especially if you don’t know exactly what sort of chemicals (weed-killers, fertilizers) have been used on the grass your dog is munching. Not to mention the various illnesses/parasites that can be spread through contact with wild animals’ (rabbits, squirrels, skunks, possums, deer, raccoons, birds, etc.) droppings.