I just ate some beef ribs that were rubbed with a very hot rub. Normally, I give the bones to my dog. (A rib lasts her less than a minute.) But I have never given her hot (as in spicy hot rather than temperature hot) food before. I know that hot sauce rubbed on table and chair legs prevents gnawing, but that may be the vinegar in the sauce. Can a dog taste spicy hot food?

Apparently so. One of my Irish Wolfhounds took a hot curry. After a few seconds she responded exactly like a human: she hurried straight to her water and gulped some down ! It was obvious that she was affected as we are. A dog's sense of taste is inferior to ours but is more than compensated by the sense of smell. The surprise was that she did not find the smell of the food repugnant. Maybe her enthusiasm for having anything before her sister gets it overrrode that (and she knew that humans ate it, too).

Isn't what affects us in chllies and other 'hot' foodstuffs some chemical irritant to our tissue which gives the burning sensation?. In that dogs must be built like us.

"Isn't what affects us in chllies and other 'hot' foodstuffs some chemical irritant to our tissue which gives the burning sensation?"

Yes, that substance is capsaicin, and water really doesn't help. The burning is caused by the plant oil, which is high in capsaicin. Water dooesn't dilute the oil. The best thing to do is 1) wipe your mouth and lips out with bread, which will absorb the oil and 2) drink milk or eat a dairy product, getting the liquid all around where the oil has touched, including the lips. Milk contains casein , which will neutralize the capsaicin. Be sure and wash your hands after touching the oil or oily bread. If you get the oil in any muscus membranes (eyes, nose, etc.),it will burn.


Interestingly, "(t)he American Association for Cancer Research reports studies showing that Capsaicin is a killer of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells (PMID 16540674). [1]

Intranasal administration of capsaicin has shown some promise in treating certain kinds of headaches. [2] It may also be helpful in treating chronic sinus infections. [3] - Wikipedia

I have also read that men who consume a great deal of hot sauce have a lower incidence of lung cancer. I haven't looked for that study since I read about it in the mid 90s, but I do know that my father used hot sauce a great deal, and was a very heavy smoker for over 65 years. The last few years of his life, he said his doctor was telling him that he needed to quit smoking before he developed emphysema. Thar was after about 60+ years of smoking. Dad died of kidney failure at 80. His doctor did the autopsy, and said that Dad's lungs were fine. I don't eat any more hot sauce than I did formerly, but I use it a great deal. It can't hurt.

Actually neither dogs nor humans can taste hot foods. The taste buds sense sweet, acid, salt, bitter, and glutamate. The flavors (e.g. vanilla, roast beef, etc.) are detected by the scent sensors in the nose. That's why when we have a lot of mucus due to a cold, and the vapors from food can't reach our sense of smell, we say the food is 'tasteless'. But we can still detect the five 'tastes' and we can still 'taste' hot peppers.

'Hot' food is detected by the same kind of sensors that detect any irritant -- that is why we would feel the effect of the spice in mucous membranes or in a skin cut. So it's not surprising that dogs can detect an irritant in their food.

did you know that you are not suppose to give bones to dogs because they could splinter in the stomach, especially chicken bones. they also are'nt suppose to have spicy food. i know this for a fact, because years ago i gave sausage to my dogs and they got sick and we took them to the vet and they told us spicy food can cause pancreous damage in dogs and we were lucky they got well. it might be best not to give your dog anything spicy, just to be safe.

I have given, and will continue to give, my dogs bones. I have done it for each of the nine dogs I have had. Most died of old age. I didn't give the spicy bones to Lady.

You're right, Babs. I had forgotten about the sweet, salt, etc. I knew that hot sauce was a "feeling" rather than a taste, but wasn'y sure about a dog's reaction to it. By the way, if the oil from the pepper is hot enough, getting it on unbroken skin can cause pain.

The heat of peppers (and, thus, hot sauce) is measured in Scoville units. The scale is named after Wilbur Scoville who developed the test in 1912. Below are a few peppers and sauces and their ratings.

0 Sweet Bell pepper

100 - 500 Pepperoncini, pepper (also known as Tuscan peppers, sweet Italian peppers, and golden Greek peppers.

500 - 2,500 Anaheim pepper

600 - 1,200 Tabasco Green sauce

1,000 - 2,000 Poblano pepper

2,500 - 5,000 Tabasco sauce

2,500 - 5,000 Jalapeño (Capsicum annuum)

5,000 - 10,000 Hot Wax pepper

6,000 - 23,000 Serrano pepper

7,000 - 8,000 Tabasco Habanero sauce

30,000 - 50,000 Tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens), Cayenne pepper (Capsicum baccatum and Capsicum frutescens)

50,000 - 100,000 Thai pepper (Capsicum annuum)

100,000 - 200,000 Jamaican Hot pepper

100,000 - 325,000 Scotch bonnet (Capsicum chinense)

100,000 - 350,000 Habanero (Capsicum chinense Jacquin)

350,000 - 577,000 Red Savina habanero (Capsicum chinense Jacquin)

2,000,000 Common Pepper spray
5,300,000 Police grade Pepper spray

16,000,000 Pure capsaicin and Dihydrocapsaicin
--------
The Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University has reported on the pungency levels of some of the chile varieties grown in the 2001 Demonstration and Teaching Garden. Dr. Paul Bosland, director of the Institute, cautioned that these heat levels are the result of a single test of chiles grown in that specific environment and therefore should not be considered definitive heat levels for the particular varieties. Factors affecting pungency include genetic background, soil, temperature, fertilizer, and watering practices. The numbers represent Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the standard industry measurement.

Taste buds? Apart from the Yorkshire terrier who likes banana, and laboriously bites and spits her way into any one she can take, we now have two dogs that like pineapple. The American cocker eats only small pieces but the Wolfhound is a tougher beast. She took a whole one from the bag but was puzzled by the fruit. It smelled of pineapple but wasn't the easiest eat ! She wouldn't rest until I cut a slice of it, but I drew the line at peeling it.So, it's chewy, but who cares ? She ate the whole slice, rind and all.This is the same bitch that goes mad for sherbet.

She's now gone back to natural eating. She's always eaten the young leaves of hogweed but recently has taken to the leaves of stinging nettles. Today she carefully (there's no other way but carefully) pulled the hips from wild rose bushes, pulling them off neatly, one by one,having a quick chew and swallowing. Rose hips are very high in vitamin C, so high that they were given, as government issue, in syrup to infants when we had food rationing after WW2. The care with which she selects these plants suggests that she knows exactly what she wants and needs.She takes quite a while to find the hogweed and choose the best leaves, inspecting and rejecting some plants in the process.Hogweed is said to lower blood pressure. Living in this house, at her advanced age, she would need it !

i have to watch two of my dogs. they pick my tomatoes and lay down and enjoy their snack. i put them out to potty and when i go to let them back in, they are eating tomatoes.

This is an older thread, but as it was reopened, it seemed appropriate to mention my dog's taste buds. I don't think he has any.

He just did something really disgusting, and I can't get the image out of my head.
The two cats had caught a baby morning dove, and were "playing" with it on the grass. It's wing was injured, and they'd let it hop away, and get so far, and then pounce on it again.
Anyway, our dog, Fred, is a black lab-cross, with 3 legs, and disgusting habits. He hobbled up to them all, barked at the cats, to chase them away from the bird. Then.... he BIT the bird's head off.
He didn't even chew it before he swallowed, he just sat there, licking his lips.
He's been under the deck since it happened. I think he has indigestion.

Aaaaaah, dg. Fred's a humanitarian dog, putting the poor bird out of its misery. Dogs called Fred are like that

The Wolfhound's sister caught a rat once. The others were ratting and flushed one out. The innocent beast made the mistake of pausing in the clear, unaware of the towering figure directly above. She nonchalantly lowered her great head, for all the world like a dockside crane picking up a crate, plucked the rat off the ground and swallowed it whole !

The Irish wolfhound is now blackberrying.I couldn't find her until going out to a field where there was a thicket.There she was, contentedly pulling the ripe berries off the bushes. She's quite fussy. She doesn't like them green but doesn't appear to like them very ripe either, sniffing each cluster before deciding on which berry is most to her canine gourmet taste

LOL

Fred, at first glance at this post, I thought you were being facetious about the "blackberrying".. you know the hand held Palm Pilot-type devices??

quote:

Originally posted by Sherasi:
LOL

Fred, at first glance at this post, I thought you were being facetious about the "blackberrying".. you know the hand held Palm Pilot-type devices??

No,sadly she's a wolfhound (don't tell anyone, but they are not the sharpest knives in the box ) not a poodle or border collie Give the poodle here a chance and he'd be on the Blackberry in no time.He's good with technology; he opens the car windows, switches channels on the TV etc;so if he ever gets ten minutes alone with one...

Dogs notice 'spicy'. They usually will back off with a singular sniff if it's something they don't want or digestive system can't tolerate.

My Boxer is a little picky. I never giver her much 'people food'. It really isn't good for dogs at all. I do let her get a taste and she is happy with that.

Check out the meat section. Beef bones are usually pretty inexpensive. Cook them with a broil and rack so fats do not soak the bones. This is good for the dog's teeth and entertains the dog chewing. Pork bones are not the best choice.

It does sound like spoiling the dog, but it really isn't. Beef bones are very good for a dog, inexpensive, and easy to toss in the oven.

Oh dear! The wolfhound is still picking ripe blackberries, now insisting that I wait patiently while she disappears to do so, before deigning to come to the lead for a walk, but she's now 'taught' the others, the cockerpoos, to do the same.So now I have the spectacle of a 3 foot plus high wolfhound picking the higher fruit while the little ones,at 11 inches, pick the low stuff (and wait for her to drop any of hers too).All we need now is for them to introduce all the other dogs in the village to the same practice and nobody will be walking their dogs anywhere

Rajah and Lacie, my Schipps, have taken to sharking Jaden in her Highchair waiting for tidbits to drop (or be thrown).

We actively discourage the dogs to try to 'Anticipate' and go right for the gold BEFORE its been abandoned by said baby!