By: Ted Beyer
Summertime—sun and fun! For most of us (in the northern hemisphere at least) that means hot weather. Heat does interesting things to the world around us, and to us as well. On a hot day you tend to perspire. Your body does this for a good reason: as the moisture evaporates, it cools your skin, and thus helps to regulate your body temperature.
In contrast, dogs don’t perspire—they don’t have sweat glands! So on a hot day you will see dogs panting—lots of rapid, shallow breaths with their tongues looking bigger than usual hanging out of their mouths. That’s the doggie way of cooling off. They are moving air over a wet surface—again using evaporation to lower their body temperature.
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