Welcome back to our blog series, “Making Sense of Your Dog.”

In Part 1, we explored how well dogs see and smell. We considered how these senses compare with the sight and olfactory acuity of us two-leggers.

But what about the other three senses (hearing, touch and taste)? You and your pup both use these faculties to gather information about the world, but who has the richer sensory experience?

Keep reading to learn more about your dog’s sense of hearing, touch and taste below.

Your Dog’s Sense of Hearing

We’ve all heard about dog whistles that only our canine friends can perceive. They work because dogs can hear sounds as high as 47,000 to 60,000 Hertz (abbreviated Hz, a measure of frequency – the higher the measure, the higher-pitched the sound). Human hearing, in contrast, tops out at only 20,000 Hz.

A canine’s sensitivity to high-pitched sound has an evolutionary source. Our pet’s canine cousins, like wolves and foxes, prey on small rodents. The ability to hear their squeaks and squeals helps predators to score a meal of mouse or gopher. Human hearing evolved to enable frequent contact and cooperation with others of our species, so our hearing is tuned to the pitch of the human voice.

Dogs can also pick up low-pitched, but soft sounds that humans may miss. That’s one way your pet knows mom’s almost home when she hears the rumble of the car motor a block away.

Moreover, dogs have ears like those parabolic microphone dishes you see eavesdropping on conversations on the sidelines of football games. Your pooch has a dozen or so muscles in his ear; so he can angle, lift and rotate each ear independently to focus on a specific source of sound. That’s partly why he tilts his head when you say something interesting – not that he will necessarily comply.

Your Dog’s Sense of Touch

Puppies begin to use their sense of touch immediately after birth, searching for mom’s warmth and stimulating milk flow. In turn, mothers lick and nuzzle their pups from birth, forming strong bonds through touch. Handling a young dog to habituate the animal to touch is important. Also, rubbing his chest in a slow, circular motion can be soothing (for both human and pooch).

Your dog’s face has fine whiskers above the eyes, on the muzzle and below the jaw. These whiskers (known as vibrissae) are so sensitive that he can sense airflow around an object before he makes contact. So never give your dog a facial trim – those hairs are there for a reason.

So, what about hugging your canine friend? One expert who studied a sampling of pictures of people hugging their dogs came to this conclusion: “I can summarize the data quite simply by saying that … the Internet contains many pictures of happy people hugging what appear to be unhappy dogs.”

Think about it: dogs don’t have arms, so when they show affection for their pack mates, they don’t hug. So, when they are hugged by humans, many squirm, open their eyes wide, yawn, lick their lips or raise a paw – all signs of stress. The professor who did the study estimated that 81.6 percent of the dogs pictured showed some of these signs of stress. (From “Let's Not Hug It Out with Our Dogs,” NPR Weekend Edition, April 30, 2016.)

It’s a little like that friendly aunt who insists on pinching the cheeks of her cute nephew. The aunt is just being affectionate, but the child wrinkles his nose in mortification and dislike.

Are there exceptions? Of course. Dogs are as individual as humans. But just as most nephews would rather avoid Aunt Hilda’s cheek-pinching, most pooches would rather not be hugged.

Dogs’ feet are also sensitive, which is why so many hate having their paws touched or their nails clipped. If you have concerns about cutting the nails too close and hitting the quick, let a pro do it. A yelping animal with bleeding nails just increases everybody’s stress.

Your Dog’s Sense of Taste

Although dogs perceive the same four types of taste we do (sweet, sour, salty and bitter), there’s still no data on whether they are able to pick up on umami or savoriness. Dogs discriminate taste less accurately than do people. Our pups have about 1,700 taste buds, compared to our 9,000. Without their acute sense of smell, dogs can’t differentiate among the taste of chicken, fish, beef or pork.

So, if dogs can taste, why do they so often nosh on disgusting garbage scraps? The reason may have more to do with their heightened sense of smell (refer back to Part 1 of this series). They will eat almost anything that smells good to them, so foods that repel you offer interesting aromas to your pooch and therefore be worthy of sampling … or rolling in!