# How do dogs drink water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803 "2006-01-13T09:42:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/1 "2006-01-13T09:42:24Z")
How does a dog drink water by simply licking it? It seems like it would take an eternity for me to gulp a cup of water by using nothing else but my tounge… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/2 "2006-01-13T09:51:13Z")
The dog’s tongue is larger, can extend further out of its mouth (for more “reach”) and has a rougher surface, so a lap draws in more moisture than a human can manage with the same motion. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/3 "2006-01-13T11:20:39Z")
They use their tongue as a scoop. It actually curves not up, like a human’s does, but _under_, and it ladles the water up. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/4 "2006-01-13T12:05:51Z")
Mine uses a straw, what? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/5 "2006-01-13T12:10:41Z")
I remember seeing some slow-motion footage of animals lapping water; the tongue drops into the water, then is retracted quickly, this essentially _splashes_ the water up into the mouth, but in a very controlled fashion; the surface tension of the water keeps most of it in place on the tongue, or at least in a fairly contained stream toward the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/6 "2006-01-13T13:18:13Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > They use their tongue as a scoop. It actually curves not up, like a humans does, but _under_, and it ladles the water up. > [@Mangetout](#): > > I remember seeing some slow-motion footage of animals lapping water… **GuanoLad** ’s got the technique right, and [here’s](http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/high_speed_video/#Stupid_Animal_Tricks) the slow-mo video for **Mangetout** ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/7 "2006-01-13T13:28:16Z")
I disagree that scooping is exactly what’s happening here; the rapid upward motion of the tongue is imparting momentum to the water, causing drops to splash upward from the surface; the dog is then catching these drops in its mouth - some of it _after_ the tongue has been retracted. That’s more or less what I described. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/8 "2006-01-13T18:56:38Z")
For some reason I remember a short video on what must have been the prehistoric precursor to The Animal Planet. It ran on TV like 40 years ago. Anyway, the dogs tongue does curl upward, and the scooping effect is how they get alot of the water, the splashing and friction parts also playing a role. Interestingly, a cat’s tongue curls underneath (opposite direction) when it is drinking. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-dogs-drink-water/339803/9 "2006-01-13T18:58:22Z")
Or maybe it was the other way around, anyway, the tongues of cats and dogs curl in opposite directions when drinking. It was 40 years ago, the memory is not crystal clear.