My owner loves wearing make-up, and one part of her face that she spends, what feels like, hours painting is her eyebrows.
She never used to do anything to her eyebrows but in recent years they have become a big part of her make-up routine. It wasn’t until I saw my owner spending lots of time on her eyebrows that I realized that I have them too.
My eyebrows are very different from my owners, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. Unlike her, I don’t spend much time thinking about, or even looking at, my eyebrows, but they are still a big part of my face.
So yes, we dogs do have eyebrows, and I’m going to tell you all about them. So if you want to find out more about your dog’s eyebrows then keep on reading.
Do Dogs have Eyebrows?
As I have said, yes us dogs do have eyebrows. But, depending on the color of our fur, and the breed of dog that we are, you might not always be able to see them.
This is because our eyebrows are not eyebrows in the same sense as humans. They are a feature of our face but because we are covered in fur, they are not as prominent which is why it’s easy to not notice them.
Just like humans, we dogs have eyebrow ridges which we can move for certain facial expressions, or simply when we feel like wiggling them.
Once upon a time, we dogs would not have been able to move our eyebrows in the way that we can today, but due to centuries of living with humans, we have evolved to be able to move our eyebrows to aid our facial expressions.
We do not use our eyebrows as much as humans do, but they are always very helpful. Whenever I want to get something off of my owner, all I have to do is show her my “puppy dog eyes” and she’s unable to resist.
Without my eyebrows, I wouldn’t be able to give her puppy dog eyes, and I also wouldn’t be able to use my facial expressions to get certain responses out of my owner and other humans.
So yes, we dogs have eyebrows and we know exactly how to use them to get exactly what we want, whenever we want it.
Which Dog Breeds have Eyebrows?
All dog breeds have eyebrows, but as I said earlier, in some breeds you might be unable to see them.
Depending on the breed of dog that you have, their eyebrows might be more or less prominent. In particular, it tends to be easier to spot your dog’s eyebrows if they are one of the larger breeds, like me.
All dogs have eyebrows, but not all of us have distinctive hair upon them to make them look like eyebrows in a human sense.
Some of the dog breeds with the most prominent eyebrows include:
- German Shepherds/Alsatians
- Dobermans
- Labradors
- Rottweilers
- Bernese Mountain Dog
- And many more…
As I have said, all of these breeds are dogs that tend to be classified as ‘large’. This is mainly because bigger dogs have bigger faces and more room for you to notice their eyebrows.
These breeds also tend to be fairer in color, increasing the chance of their eyebrows being more noticeable upon their face.
Do Dogs Eyebrows Serve a Purpose?
The primary purpose for human eyebrows is to aid communication and prevent moisture from getting into the eyes, but dogs’ eyebrows do so much more than this.
Us dogs not only have eyebrows, but we also have whiskers which come out of these eyebrows and they play a very important part of our day-to-day life.
Just like cats, us dogs have whiskers all over our face, and you will mainly find them on our cheeks/muzzle, on our chin, and our eyebrows.
Cats use their eyebrows to help them tell whether or not they can fit through gaps and small spaces, but we dogs are not as flexible as cats. Due to this, we do not use our eyebrows for the same purpose as cats, instead, we use them to help us move around.
Even though we have incredible eyesight, our eyebrows also play a huge role in sensory perception and help us to learn about our surroundings.
Our whiskers are similar to the antennae that you will find on some insects as they feed information back to our brains in the same way.
Instead of physically feeling things, our whiskers instead pick up on movement and objects within our vicinity that we might not have noticed at first, giving us better knowledge of the world around us.
So yes, our eyebrows serve a very important purpose in keeping us safe within the world.
Is it Safe to Cut My Dog’s Eyebrows?
Even though we are all the same species, there are some huge differences between different breeds of dogs. These differences are not reserved to size and color, they also go as specific as the length of our eyebrows.
The majority of dogs will not require their eyebrows to be trimmed as they have relatively short fur, but there are some breeds of dogs that are prone to bushy eyebrows which can get in the way.
In some breeds, when the eyebrows grow out they can begin to irritate the eyes and cause dogs to develop eye infections that require veterinary treatment.
So if your dog is one of these breeds, it is best to trim their eyebrows. You can do this yourself as long as you do it cautiously, and you can also get this done in most dog groomers.
But most dogs will not require our eyebrows to be trimmed, so unless your dog has long eyebrows then there is no need to do this.
Some dogs have long eyebrows which do not irritate the eyes, so if this is the case you shouldn’t trim your dog’s eyebrows. You should only do it if it is causing them discomfort.
Summary
In short, yes we dogs do have eyebrows and they are very important.
Our eyebrows allow us to communicate with our owners and also hold our whiskers which play a huge role in sensory perception, allowing us to stay safe when we are moving around.
