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Mythbusters Canine Edition – Part 2

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Continuing to debunk these popular, wrong, notions about dogs

Dogs are colorblind

dog vision myth

Dogs’ vision includes some color, but not the full range humans enjoy.

Well, sort of. Dogs see the world differently than most people. Their color perception is actually similar to people who have red/green color blindness, with most tones in yellows and blues. As much as you may like seeing your dog in a bright red collar, it doesn’t make any difference to your dog. And the reason she loves that bright yellow tennis ball? Because it’s probably the one she can see the best.

Dogs’ mouths are cleaner than people’s

French bulldog panting

Dogs’ mouths aren’t any cleaner than people’s.

All mouths have natural bacteria and “flora” populations. Dogs’ mouths are by no means “sterile” or germ-free. Which is not to say there’s any problem with a dog licking you – for healthy people and dogs, it’s no problem at all. The notion probably arose because anaerobic bacteria, which die in an oxygen-rich environment, aren’t generally present in dog’s mouths because they pant, exposing their entire mouths to air. It’s the old wives’ tale we heard back in the day.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

French Bulldog high five

Dogs can learn new behaviors at any age – and most love learning new things (or the treats they get!)

Nonsense! Just like people, dogs are able to learn, adapt, and grow throughout their lives. Teaching your dog something new is a great way to shake everybody out of their ruts. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated – see how many tricks you and your dog can come up with using a box, or a step stool, or other household objects. Just remember to train in small increments (five or 10 minutes at a time), and never when you’re angry or frustrated. Training takes time and patience, but it’s fun for everybody to show off your dog’s new trick at the next family gathering.

A wagging tail means the dog is happy

French Bulldog butt

Out of our experience, but we hear tails wag for more than one reason.

We have no way of know this for sure – none of our dogs have tails! We’re told that a quickly-wagging tail does mean the dog is happy and in a playful mood, but a slower wag may mean the dog is nervous or unsure of the situation. We do know that the faster our cat’s tail was moving, the angrier he was. It was definitely a “no go” signal for our 18-lb. cat.

Mythbusters Canine Editions – Part 1

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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.