Dog vs. Human Skin and Coat
- Dogs shed their hair seasonally whereas humans more throughout the year.
- Dogs have compound hair follicles with between 5 and 10 hairs in each bundle while humans have just 1 hair per bundle.
- 30–35% of daily protein intake in dogs is taken up by hair production.
- New born puppy skin and coat represent 24% of its bodyweight (12% in adult dog).
- Both dogs and humans have an epidermis and a dermis.
- Skin surface lipids in dogs contain more sterol esters, free cholesterol esters and diester waxes than human.
- Skin of a healthy dog can quickly repair minor damage to tissues. Minor cuts, tears or abrasions usually heal with little trouble. Interestingly, dog skin is thinner than human skin and compared to humans, dogs have extremely sensitive skin. The skin on a dog is between three and five cell layers thick. On the other hand, the skin on a human is between 10 and 15 cell layers thick. While human shampoo products are designed to be safe for human skin and scalps, they can be much too harsh for dog skin. Even sensitive skin formulations may be too harsh on dog skin, simply because human skin is three to five times as thick.
- In Humans, sweat mixes with secreted sebum from sebaceous glands to form an acidic environment which helps protect from bacterial and viral infections. Dogs have fur to protect their skin. About the only exposed skin you see on a dog are the pads and the nose, and both have sweat glands.
- The skin surfaces of Humans are acidic (pH 4-5) while the pH of normal dog skin is more basic (pH 7-8.5). The more basic the skin, the more susceptible it will be to infections.
- Different breeds have different typical skin pH, which explains why some breeds are more susceptible to skin problems than others.
- There is a wide variation in the color of the skin among dogs but the color of dog skin has no bearing on its function.
- Dog skin has more or less the same glands as human skin however dog skin glands do not function the same. Contrary to belief, dog sweat glands are not confined to the foot pads or planum nasale (tip of the nose). While these are the major outlets for cooling, dogs do have sweat glands over their entire body surface that assists in its thermoregulation. Human sweat glands regulate the internal body temperature while a dogs cooling system regulates only its surface temperature. When heat builds up in the human body, the sweat glands go to work and cool the body by evaporating the perspiration given off by the sweat glands. A dog cools off by radiation, without any evaporation. Thus, only the surface of a dogs skin is cooled. This explains why dogs have difficulty adjusting to hot days. This also explains why dogs are more susceptible to falling victim to heat-exhaustion when locked up in automobiles with little or no ventilation on a hot day. There is simply no place for the dog's heat to go and without any evaporation the dog easily overheats.
