Life's Little Mysteries

Why Do Dogs Drool?

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Slimy saliva contains digestive enzymes that help canines (and humans) break down their food. Saliva also wets the throat for a smooth snack-slide right into the belly. But that all happens inside the body.

Drooling occurs when there's a saliva spill. It's simply biomechanics:

Some dogs, such as bulldogs and mastiffs, have such short snouts they have trouble containing their saliva and the leakage constantly pours out. Bow-wows with folded skin around their mouths, such as St. Bernards, bloodhounds and Bassett hounds, are also big drippers.

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Jeanna Bryner
Managing editor, Scientific American

Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.

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