Scientists unveil how fast a pet dog should shake to get its fur dry

Friday, 22 October 2010 18:37

A team of physicists in the United States have determined just how long and how fast a wet pet dog should shake in order to get dry.

Looking into the various ways in which a variety of mammals get themselves dry, the tem from the Georgia Institute of Technology made use of slow-motion video technology to record varying rates of oscillations.

They concluded that, the bigger the animal, the faster they have to shake in order to shed water.

For example, a mouse was found to shake itself dry at a frequency of 27Hz and a rat at a frequency of 18Hz.

A Labrador retriever pet dog, however, will only shake its fur dry at a frequency of four Hz, putting it on a par with a grizzly bear, while those dogs with longer hair will also need to shake stronger and faster in order to get dry, with the scientists noting that this is like "nature's analogy to the spin cycle of a washing machine".

Writing up the findings in the journal Fluid Dynamics, the authors of the report explained that shaking fur to keep it dry plays a critical role in enabling mammals to regulate their body heat.

News of the scientific breakthrough comes in the same week that the Kaloomps Daily News in the US reported the successful rescue of a springer spaniel which was trapped in a storm water catchment basin for several hours.

Animal Friends Insurance, one of the largest independent pet insurers in the UK offer dog insurance, cat insurance and horse insurance to UK residents.

Posted by Mike