Can dogs cool off from lying in front of a fan?

[John Salerno]

I've read that dogs have sweat glands only on their tongues and the pads of their feet. So I was curious about two things I've noticed my dog (and some other dogs do):

 

1. When they are hot, they tend to lie on the floor instead of the carpet. Does lying on linoleum, hard wood, etc. keep them cooler? Maybe this case has nothing to do with sweating.

 

2. They also lie in front of a floor fan we have. This is what confused me because as far as I know, the reason fans cool off humans is because it evaporates the sweat on our skin. Since this doesn't happen for dogs, do they actually gain anything from lying in front of a fan when they're hot?

 

Thanks.

[John Cuthber]

Ever walked across a lino floor with bare feet on a cool day?

The floor is cooler than your feet so it conducts heat away from them and that makes your feet cooler. The carpet isn't as good at conducting heat so it doesn't work so well.

Similarly the air is usually cooler than you (or your dog) and carries away heat. The fan makes that process work better because more air hits you and more air can carry more heat.

 

If the air is warmer than the dog's body temperature (typically 38 to 40 C) this won't work. It will have to lose heat by panting.

[John Salerno]

Ever walked across a lino floor with bare feet on a cool day?

The floor is cooler than your feet so it conducts heat away from them and that makes your feet cooler. The carpet isn't as good at conducting heat so it doesn't work so well.

Similarly the air is usually cooler than you (or your dog) and carries away heat. The fan makes that process work better because more air hits you and more air can carry more heat.

 

If the air is warmer than the dog's body temperature (typically 38 to 40 C) this won't work. It will have to lose heat by panting.

 

Thanks. I just wasn't sure if those things worked differently for dogs since humans have perspiring skin and dogs don't.

[John Cuthber]

There is a difference, sweating skin is also cooled by evaporation, and the fan helps that too.

[John Salerno]

There is a difference, sweating skin is also cooled by evaporation, and the fan helps that too.

 

So in the case of a dog, heat doesn't leave the surface of their bodies in the same way as humans (via evaporating sweat) but it still can be borne away from their bodies by cool surfaces and cool air...is that correct? I was thinking that heat only left their bodies through their tongues or feet, so that's why I didn't quite see how a cool floor or fan could help them lose heat.

[xxSilverPhinxx]

Evaporating water takes more heat away from the surface of our skin than a fan removing heated air from the proximity of a dog's body, but the principal is the same. It's just not as effective for them but it happens.

[Conscious Energy]

On 6/14/2011 at 6:25 PM, John Salerno said:

 

I've read that dogs have sweat glands only on their tongues and the pads of their feet. 

 

Dogs doesn’t have sweat glands on their tongues just on their feet pads. 
 

That is why panting is the main form of loosing heat for them. 
 

They are also able to sense the minimally better physical circumstances in front of the fan, which helps to redistribute the exhaled moist and heat from around the dog and help a little the surface evaporation of the feet pads.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Conscious Energy