We all know that dogs pant when they’re hot, it’s the primary way they lower their body temperature. When a dog pants, the evaporating moisture on her tongue combined with the evaporation of the moist lining of her lungs cools her down; it’s not that different from the way we humans cool down when we evaporate sweat on our bodies. The operative word with humans, however, is sweat.

Dogs sweat, but they sweat differently than we do in that they sweat mainly through glands in their paw pads called merocrine glands, glands that are similar to human sweat glands. Sweating through their paws helps cool a dog down. Another type of gland, the apocrine located throughout a dog’s body also makes a dog sweat, but this sweat’s purpose isn’t to cool off a dog, but to spread information about the dog. This sweat contains scent pheromones which helps dogs identify each other.

As an aside, there’s one more way dogs can regulate their body temperatures, and that’s vasodilation: A dog’s blood vessels expand, bring “hot blood” closer to the skin’s surface where cools down. The cooler blood flows back to the heart and brings the dog’s overall temperature down.

There is a breed, however, that some authorities say isn’t like other dogs in this department, and that is the Chinese Crested Hairless. Unlike most dogs who pant to cool off, these experts say that Chinese Cresteds can cool down without panting because they sweat to regulate their body temperature.  No less an authority than the Chinese Crested Club of Canada refutes this, however, and writes that contrary to popular belief, this breed does not have sweat glands in their skin and pants to dissipate excess body heat like any other dog.  At this point, we’d like to hear from Chinese Crested owners to help clarify the issue.

Image: Chinese Crested Hairless Puppy by Marvin Blaine is available for purchase as fine art, and in lifestyle and home decor items here