Why Do Dogs Have Whiskers?
If you live with a dog youve probably noticed your dogs whiskersstiff coarse hairs that stick out from the fur around the nose and eyebrows. You may particularly notice them when your dog is expressing emotion or communicating a desire to you like begging for that last bite of food on your plate. So why do dogs have whiskers? They are part of an important sensory system that helps dogs navigate their environment.
What Are Dog Whiskers?
Whiskers are sensory hairs that are also called vibrassae tactile hairs or sinus hairs. They differ in structure from the hairs that make up your dogs fur not only in appearance thickness and stiffness but also in how they are connected to your dogs body and brain. Whiskers are only located on dogs faces and can be found above the eyes around the nose under the chin and on the cheeks. Since dogs use their faces and noses to glean all sorts of information about their world it makes sense that whiskers would develop in these areas to provide extra sensory input 1
Anatomy of Dog Whiskers
The unique anatomy of whiskers compared to other types of hair is responsible for their sensory function. Fur grows from hair follicles which are small pockets of cells and connective tissue in your dogs skin. The follicles surrounding whiskers are much bigger with a large blood supply and many
nerves. This blood supply is called a blood sinus hence the name sinus hairs. When the whisker encounters even a very slight touch or pressure change it transfers this pressure to the blood sinus where its amplified and transmitted to the brain via sensory nerves 1 This results in a highly responsive system.
Theres also a difference in the type of muscles that move whiskers. You may have seen your dogs fur stand up along the back when scared or startled. This is an involuntary reaction caused by smooth muscle movements under the skinsimilar to when people get goosebumps. In
