Purpose of the Dog's Flew

[JAY]

The "flew" is the anatomical name for dogs' upper lip.

For many years I had been curious about the origin of a sound my German Short Haired Pointers would frequently make when running with their noses near the grassy ground. Recently I could see that they were vibrating their flews. The vibration related to the familiar sound. I figure they vibrate their flews to sweep up smells from the ground.

I wonder if there is a relationship between the size of a dog's flew and its property of "nose".

[oregon woodsmoke]

I'm thinking probably not. The best nose I've ever witnessed on a dog is my Epagneul Breton, who has tight lips, His sense of smell is phenomenal. My Bracco Italiano with big saggy wet flews doesn't seem to have much of a sense of smell at all. If the size of the lips had anything to do with it, she could out perform a bloodhound but she can't even find a cracker on the floor right in front of her.

[Steve007]

I wonder if there is a relationship between the size of a dog's flew and its property of "nose".

Yes, but only if you're talking ground scenters. Take a look at the Bloodhound to take an extreme example. Dogs pick up microscopic scent "footprints" on the ground, and the flews help to pick up and concentrate those little scent particles. Air scenting is a different methodology. Of course there are other factors, so it doesn't always follow that the one with the biggest flews is the best ground tracker. But it's a help.

[RatDog]

My gsp does a bunch of weird stuff when she’s really sniffing around but most noticeable is she pops her jaws or clacks her teeth or something. Not sure what’s up with that…


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