My dog will occasionally sneeze, and cough, but never seems to have the symptoms that we humans have, when having a cold. Are dogs immune to the human rhinovirus? Or is it because dogs have a nasal structure which is inhospitable to the virus.
Years ago, I read that the human nose offers a unique environment, which is favorable to the virus-lots of protein (snot), and a cool temperature. Anyway, what’s the story?
They are. Far as I know no rhinovirus infects dogs ( one of our resident vets maybe can correct me on that ) and in fact very few effect any animal period. There seems to be some very minor bovine and equine rhinoviruses, but by and large it is a scourge specific to our species.
Dogs do get their own versions of adenoviruses, one of which causes a variety of “kennel cough” ( roughly the dog equivalent of a cold ). Another causes hepatitis.
To the OP, it is not totally true dogs don’t get sick. We found our dog as a stray. Out in the pouring rain, he had pneumonia. We got him to a vet in time.
Pneumonia is not a cold.
And the OP never said “dogs don’t get sick”.
My dog was sick about two years ago, he coughed, he had a runny noise and even had laryngitis. Maybe it was was one poster called Kennel Cough. Anyway after we took him to the vet, who said “he was a dog cold” what ever that is, he was well in about a week.