I read an interesting article on why dogs stick their heads out of moving cars at almost any chance they get.
So what is the joy in the wind-whipped snout?
A number of dog behaviorists agree that the window's main draw isn't the scenery or the breeze, what they are after are smells.
Dogs are walking noses. While our human olfactory membranes (a lump of tissue tucked up in the nose) are about the size of a postage stamp and hold about 5 million olfactory receptors or "scent cells," a large dog has an olfactory membrane closer in size to a handkerchief and more than 225 million receptors.
As air moves over the olfactory membrane, odor molecules settle on the scent receptors and get recognized. The more air there is flowing over the membrane, the more scents the dogs can detect.
So when a dog sticks its head out the window, it's like pigging out at a hi-definition all-you-can-smell scent buffet.
