The Science Behind Your Dog and His Behavior

Dog behavior is becoming more popular as more and more scientists spend their time and money trying to figure out how our best friends have evolved to become so close to us. We know more than ever about dog behavior, from how they are made to how they think. Want to know what science has to say about your dog’s behavior? Read on to learn about some of the most interesting things we’ve found.

Why Do Dogs Sleep So Much?

How long a dog sleeps depends on many things, such as his age, size, breed, health, dog behavior, and level of activity. All dogs need a lot more sleep than people do. This is because dogs get a lot more REM sleep than people do. Only about 10% of a dog’s nap is spent in REM sleep, which is the deepest and most restful stage of sleep. This is different from humans, who spend about 25% of their sleep in REM sleep. This means that they have to sleep longer to fix the problem.

What Are Dogs Saying When They Bark?

Even though dogs bark for many different reasons, biologists used to think that their barks didn’t change based on what they were trying to say. Scientific American says that recent research into a dog’s biology has shown that a dog’s vocal cords are flexible, which gives them the ability to slightly change the sound of their barks to say different things.

Spectrographic images of dog barks have shown that the timing, pitch, and volume of the sound all change depending on the situation. Growling is the same way. Researchers don’t know what these different barks and growls mean yet, but tests have shown that dogs respond differently to other dogs’ sounds depending on the situation. For instance, scientists recorded a dog growling at a stranger and at food. When they played back the “food growl” while giving a treat to another dog, the dog was less likely to take it than when they played back the “stranger growl.” Other tests showed that dogs and people are more likely to react to a dog’s “stranger bark” than to other types of barking. More dog science research is needed to figure out what every woof and growl means, but it’s becoming clear that a dog’s barking isn’t just for fun; it’s also a way for them to communicate.

How Fast Can Dogs Run?

How fast a dog can run is different for each dog. The size, shape, and length of your legs, as well as your age, health, and physical condition, all play a big role in how fast you can run. Wag! says that the average speed of the world’s fastest dog, the greyhound, is about 45 miles per hour. The fastest greyhound ever was clocked at 50.5 miles per hour.

Greyhounds and other fast breeds like whippets and Afghan hounds look like they were made for speed, but all dogs can make their bodies more aerodynamic when they run, either by flattening their ears to reduce wind resistance or by pushing them back to avoid tripping over them.

How High Can Dogs Jump?

For some dogs, being able to jump up on a couch is nothing special. For others, it may take stairs to get to your favorite chair, and for still others, their ability to jump can make it hard to keep them in fenced yards. Like a dog’s ability to run, its ability to jump is largely determined by its size, strength, age, health, and body condition. It has been said that the dogs that can jump the highest can clear 6 feet, but the small breeds that can jump more than their own height might be more impressive.

How far a dog can jump is another part of how they jump. Dogs are often trained to run and jump in the water during dock-diving competitions to see how far they can go. Some dogs can jump as far as 30 feet. According to The Labrador Site.

How Well Can Dogs See?

The eyes of a dog are amazing. They can see things that you and I can’t. But a dog’s eyesight isn’t always better than that of a human. According to Veterinary Vision, a dog’s eyes are on the side of his head, which gives him a better peripheral vision. However, their visual acuity, or their ability to focus on objects, is only about 20 to 40 percent of that of a human. This means that if a dog’s behavior can tell what something is from 20 feet away, a person with 20/20 vision could do the same at 90 feet. Because of this, dogs depend a lot on their other senses to help them get around.

Read More: Facial Swelling in Dogs: Causes & Treatments

How Good is a Dog’s Hearing Really?

It’s not a myth that dogs can hear. In fact, it’s an amazing trait that has helped them for thousands of years. Petful says that dogs can hear sounds up to four times farther away than people can. Dogs can use their ears on their own and change the direction in which they listen, which helps them find the sound they are looking for. They do this because their ears have 18 muscles (three times as many as the human ear). Find out more here about common dog behavior issues to help you

Dogs can also hear different frequencies, which is why things like dog whistles can have such a big effect on them even if you don’t hear anything. Last but not least, dogs can use selective hearing, just like people can. This means that if you call your dog in from the yard and it seems like they’re ignoring you, they probably are.