One of the most characteristic gestures of dogs is stick out the tongue, something that has given rise to many theories and investigations. Today we know the reason for this habit, and we know that it is related to their way of regulating body temperature. We will analyze it in detail below.
This habit increases during the hottest days, and is that the belief that dogs "sweat" through the tongue is partly true. The reality is that these animals barely have sweat glands in the skin, so they only have two ways to control perspiration. The first one is expelling excess moisture through the paw pads, and the second one is panting.
Through this gasp, the dog uses its tongue to evaporate sweat, so it is common to see them in this state when they are in hot spaces or have just done some physical activity. By increasing your breathing rate, warm blood is pumped to your tongue, which removes heat in the form of moisture.
During this process, strong evaporation occurs on the surface of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, bronchi and trachea; all this in order not to exceed 40 degrees in your body temperature. However, this method is not as effective as that of humans, so dogs have a harder time managing heat. For this reason, we must take the Precautions necessary during the summer months.
There are other reasons why the dog may stick its tongue out. Anxiety, fear and joy are other common causes. However, if he does it constantly and has a low mood we must have him examined as soon as possible by a veterinarian, as it can be a symptom of certain diseases.