My dog stops at every single puddle for a drink. Should I try to explain to her just how unnecessary this is or do different rules apply!?
My dog stops at every single puddle for a drink. Should I try to explain to her just how unnecessary this is or do different rules apply!?
no but if you're going to judge what is a good way of going about things by a dog's instincts, then you'd end up defecating on pavements and masturbating against people's legsOriginally Posted by Nowton Park Harrier
Last edited by ZootHornRollo; 27-03-2011 at 01:39 PM.
Dogs do not sweat but lose most of their heat by breathing - this pre-disposes them to a dry mouth which it is natural for them to try and alleviate/prevent. Also, as they were evolving, they did not know how long they would be out for, nor when the next water stop would be, so it made sense to top up at every opportunity.
Not wanting to be pedantic but isn't that true of every species? It's also like saying if you didn't know what the weather was going to be like so wore a jacket all the time your species would eventually evolve a thick coat.
Dog's evolution has been fast-tracked by their association with man over the last x-thousand years, and to be selected, both by nature and by us, they needed to obey and to survive. So they needed to be able to keep going when it was asked of them, by keeping topped up - otherwise they would have been the next meal, thus removing their DNA from the gene pool. I doubt if wolves top up like domestic dogs - correct me if I am wrong. Of course we usually know how long we will be out for, and can plan accordingly. Military scenarios, where we know we don't know how long we will be out, are different, and the keeping topped up strategy applies there as well.
That's not really evolution. But surely the same applies to dogs as it does to us, using energy would liberate water and thus they wouldn't need to keep topping up. Presumably they do it for comfort, same as us really.
That's not really evolution either. Evolution is not a conscious process and isn't really affected by choices such as that, evolution would come into play if our ancestors regularly needed water but weren't able to top up, and thus the ones who were able to survive better with less water would be the ones to carry the genes on.
I certainly think our in built camelbak - our glycogen stores - developed because of evolutionary pressures - it seems such a good "design". The point I am trying to make about domestic dogs is that they had less choice about how far/fast they went than their wild counterparts, so different evolutionary pressures would apply - those that did not top up would be less likely to survive, so topping up became the norm. I imagine, but do not actually know, that they have similar glycogen stores to us, and that they lose heat by loss of respiratory water, which results in heat loss just like evaporation.
This New York Times article puts the water drinking 'debate' well and truly to bed I think.
And blow me down, it draws the conclusion that you should drink if you're thirsty but not if you're not
I sure enjoyed my few sips of water halfway round the 10 miler today! :thumbup:
Me too MG! Which 10-miler were you doing today?
Okay just read the other thread so I already know the answer.
Last edited by Eleanor; 27-03-2011 at 07:10 PM.
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