Amazing Anatomy – Your Dog’s Ears!

Wanna go for a ride in the car??

What a magical phrase!  Immediately, he focuses, cocks his head and is hanging on your every word.  And the best part is, he could have heard that a mile away!  It’s extraordinary how superior our hearing is compared to that of other species.  Did you know that at least 18 muscles work together to raise, tilt, turn and rotate each awesome ear on us canines?  Those muscles help to pinpoint the exact location of sounds.  

Even better, we can identify a sound’s location much faster than a human can, as well as hear sounds up to four times the distance that humans are able to.  Isn’t that mind-doggling??

I’ll tell you a secret: if you wanna know if we’re paying attention to you, just look at our ears!  If our ears are erect and facing forward (towards you), then we are engaged and focused!  However, if they are laid back tightly against our head, then usually we’re feeling fearful or shy.  And just slightly pulled back means we’re feeling comfortable and friendly.

And another amazing thing – at night when you are sleeping and it feels nice and quiet, we hear a cacophony of sounds.  Dogs can actually hear the vibration of insect bodies in the walls and even the high-frequency pulse of the crystal resonator in your digital alarm clock!

I’ve noticed that some of my BFFs have similar ears to me and some are just plain silly!  It depends on the breeding of each dog, but ear shapes are organized into the following categories:

Pendant Ear:

Folded Ear:

Rose Shaped Ear:

Bat Shaped Ear:

Button Shaped Ear:

Now you won’t be able to help bragging about your newfound canine ear knowledge!  And as a bonus, I’ll leave you with a fun fact – Tigger, a bloodhound from Illinois, has the longest ears on record, measured at 13.75 and 13.5 inches!  Bloodhound’s ears are so long they skim the ground, which helps to waft up the various smells, directing the pooch on the right path!

 Thanks always for reading!  We’ll see you next time 🙂