Watch CBS News

Good Question: Reply All: Dogs-A-Palooza!

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - I love dogs, so I love that viewers are sending in a lot of Good Questions about our four-legged pals.

Let's start with Edison Wellik from Plymouth, who took his dog out for a walk and wondered: Why do dogs stink when they get wet?

Edison, it's a combo of chemistry and physics at play. The stink is just the standard dog stink. Organic acids that dissolve on the dogs skin, travel into the air, and then into our nose.

But when dogs are wet, the acids dissolve in water. And when the water evaporates there are far more of those smelly molecules in the air for us to smell.
____

Something cracks me up about dogs hanging out of car windows. Mary Marette and Christian Robinson wondered if it's legal for dogs to feel the wind through their fur.

It's totally legal in Minnesota, but two states are looking to ban it: Rhode Island and Tennessee.

If you got in a crash, Minnesota attorney Shawn Betts tells us you'd probably get a ticket for inattentive driving, or maybe careless driving.
____

Linda Thompson wanted to know: Why do dogs wag their tails when they're happy?

That's actually a myth, Linda. Researchers have spent decades looking at tail wagging. The latest research shows it can be good or bad.

When dogs feel good about something or someone, their tails wag more to their right side - like when they see their owners.

When they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.