Day 10 of 366 Day Project – “Magic is everywhere, explore & be amazed everyday!” 

So I’m in the car heading out for Sunday morning breakfast with my awesome hubby, when I glance over to see an old dog, eyes shut, resting his head on the frame of back passenger open window. I thought to myself, “Why do dogs like to stick their heads out car windows?”

Dogs seem to want to stick their heads out of moving cars almost any chance they get. What’s so great about a wind-whipped snout?

While I wasn’t able to find any scientific research on the phenomenon, a number of dog behaviorists agree that the window’s main draw isn’t the scenery or the breeze. What dogs are after are smells.

Dogs have huge olfactory membranes in their noses with a massive power to sense and pick up smells. Humans have the same membrane but it’s much smaller and not nearly as strong as those in dogs. The membranes in humans only have five million receptors but the ones in dogs have a whopping 225 million receptors.

Air helps facilitate the process of receiving different smells. Basically, as air moves over the membrane, the more scents the dog can pick up. And as any dog owner knows, dogs love to smell just about anything. So the next time your pooch wants to stick his head out the window, remember that he’s just trying to get his smell on.

So when a dog sticks its head out the window, it’s like pigging out at a hi-definition all-you-can-smell scent buffet.

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