When it comes to human facial hair, “whiskers” refers to a man’s moustache or beard, whereas whiskers on dogs are an extension of the animal’s sense of touch. These long hairs include deep blood vessels and nerve endings that detect even the smallest movement or pressure, such as a soft summer breeze.
In essence, whiskers are to dogs what antennae are to insects. They enable dogs to learn more about their surroundings through touch, such as detecting a nearby wall when travelling in the dark or feeling the dust on an old surface. They can even help a dog decide whether or not to enter narrow locations. Vibrissae can be thought of as an additional layer of eye and facial protection.
Now that you’ve learned all about the whiskers on dogs’ faces, you might reconsider twirling or playing with their long hairs. They are highly sensitive. You can also make the best decisions during your dog’s grooming visits, as removing the whiskers is not always a good idea. You now know!
What are Dog Whiskers?
Whiskers are sensory hairs, sometimes known as vibrassae, tactile hairs, or sinus hairs. They differ from the hairs in your dog’s fur in appearance, thickness, and stiffness, as well as in how they are connected to your dog’s body and brain. Whiskers exclusively appear on dogs’ faces and can be found above the eyes, under the chin,around the nose and on the cheeks. Dogs utilise their faces and noses to gather information about their surroundings, so it stands to reason that whiskers would develop in these places to provide additional sensory input.
While a dog’s fur protects the skin and regulates body temperature, whiskers are specifically built to detect the slightest contact and send that experience to your dog’s brain. These particular tactile hairs are so sensitive that they can detect minute changes in air movement around a dog’s head, allowing your dog to assess the size, shape, and distance to nearby things.2
Anatomy of Dog Whiskers.
Whiskers’ sensory function is due to their distinct architecture when compared to other forms of hair. Fur develops from hair follicles, which are little holes of cells and connective tissue in your dog’s skin. The follicles that surround whiskers are substantially larger, with a rich blood supply and numerous nerves. This blood supply is known as a blood sinus (hence the term sinus hairs). When the whisker detects even the slightest touch or pressure shift, it sends the pressure to the blood sinus, where it is magnified and relayed to the brain via sensory neurons.This results in a very responsive system.
There is also a variation in the muscles used to move whiskers. When your dog is terrified or startled, you may notice that his fur stands up along his back. This is an instinctive reaction induced by smooth muscle movements beneath the skin, similar to how individuals get goosebumps. In contrast, whiskers are linked to striated muscle, which is involved in voluntary motions. Dogs can manage their whisker movements, shifting and expanding them as necessary.
Whiskers form very early in the embryonic stage of dogs, appearing before any other sort of hair. As a result, whiskers may play vital roles in newborn puppies, who cannot see for the first ten days of life, such as locating their mother and nipples for nursing.
Dangers of removing dog whiskers
Dogs with deleted vibrissae appear more hesitant in low light. Under these conditions, they actually move slower because they aren’t getting the information they need to know where they might run into something.
With intact vibrissae, the dog does not need to make physical contact with a surface to detect its presence. These unique hairs are so sensitive that they detect even minor changes in air currents. As a dog approaches an object, such as a wall, some of the air he stirs up by moving bounces back off surfaces, gently bending the vibrissae. The ensuing brain response is sufficient to alert him that something is nearby long before he touches it.