Being, as we are, in the midst of the dog days of summer, Collected Wisdom decided this week to pursue a suitably canine theme.
Okay, so let's get Sirius. Sorry.
THE QUESTION: Why do dogs lick their owners or people they like? Nicholas Brooks of Toronto wanted to know.
THE ANSWER: Toronto's Carla Hagstrom says that, according to the Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training by Steven Lindsay, “affectionate physical gestures [by dogs] placate the leader, rendering it more benevolent and forbearing with respect to the subordinate's intrusion.” So, she says, that would mean that dogs lick their owners so the owner (the leader of the pack) will be nice to the dog.
Adds Mary Alice Thring of Toronto: “It's called ‘active submission' and means ‘I like you; do you like me?' ” It emulates the way puppies signal to their mother that they're hungry – by licking mum's face and jowls.
“My Miss Scarlett,” she says, “is notorious for it.”
THE QUESTION: “On a hot day, dogs can pant for hours (it seems) without hyperventilating,” wrote Mary K. McIntyre of Toronto. How come?
THE ANSWER: CW actually did a bit of research itself into this one and discovered – courtesy of the New Scientist – that when a dog breathes normally, a large amount of air enters its lungs and a smaller amount gets only as far as the passages that lead to the lungs. These passages are called the “dead space” because no exchange of oxygen or carbon dioxide takes place in them. When a dog pants, its breaths are fast but shallow, using mainly this dead space. Thus it isn't pushing large amounts of air in and out of its main lung area and it doesn't hyperventilate.
Julie de Moissac, president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association in Ottawa, explains that, unlike humans, dogs don't sweat, so they release heat through their tongues when panting. When a dog is hot, its tongue becomes enlarged to increase the surface area through which heat can be dissipated by the air passing over it.
HELP WANTED
- In musical terms, what exactly is “perfect pitch,” asks
Susan Felsberg
of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nfld., and what percentage of the population has it? Don McGuire
of Halifax wonders whether more blades on his razor really mean he'll get a better shave.- Why do many people struggle with the concept of left and right, asks
Marie Bannister
of Saskatoon, when it's one of the first things that children are taught? She adds that she's forever lifting her hands up with her thumbs stuck out to see on which hand the thumb and forefinger form an L, signifying left. Gurminder Singh
of Ottawa asks: Why is a professional basketball game 48 minutes long and a college game 40 minutes long when other traditional North American timed sports last 60 minutes at the college and professional levels?- And finally, after all this dog stuff, here's one for cat lovers. “I have always wondered exactly how cats produce their purring sound,” and what moods activate it, writes
Heather Cooper
of Aurora, Ont.
Send your questions and answers to wisdom@globeandmail.com. Include your name, location and a daytime phone number.
