senses

Dogs “touch” their world in a way that is much different from the way humans do. We use our fingers. Dogs use their whiskers...or vibrissae (say “vie-BRISS-e”) These are the long, rather coarse hairs that have their roots in a dog’s muzzle, their jaw and even above their eyes. At the base of the hairs are follicles and they are jam packed with nerves that send sensory information straight into the dog’s brain. While most dogs don’t use their whiskers to actually touch objects, they do use very subtle changes in air currents to detect information about nearby objects, including…