People love dogs for many reasons such as their furry body, cute faces, and even size.
Dogs sneeze for many reasons including colds, allergies or when playing or excited.
However, many dog owners may wonder why their dogs sneeze while playing.
The sneezing in dogs mostly appears when they are playing with other dogs.
Since your dog cannot tell you the reason behind its sneezing, it’s essential to understand why playing evokes the behavior.
What Is Sneezing?
First, let’s know what happens when a dog sneezes.
A cough or sneeze is natural and involuntary often triggered by irritations.
The trigeminal nerves, sense the irritation, while the cranial nerves help the dog control its facial muscles.
Naturally, sneezing helps protect the canine’s nasal cavity.
It further clears foreign materials such as dust, awns, viruses, grass, and bacteria, from the nose.
In essence, the main reason of sneezing is to get rid of anything irritating the dog’s nose.
Thus, if your pooch is sneezing, don’t get worried just yet.
What Causes Dogs to Sneeze While Playing?
Most dog owners ask, why does the dog sneeze during play?
Sure, the dog is in good health. When dogs play, their nose wrinkles.
Wrinkling mostly happens when the canine curls its lips.
Another reason can be as a result of predisposition, or it may be a calming signal.
On a lighter note, your pooch can sneeze to say it wants to play.
The sound will sound different from the regular sneeze.
When dogs communicate, they use more than thirty signals, and sneezing is one of them.
Additionally, the dog might sneeze while playing to calm things down, when activities are escalated or wild.
In a nutshell, sneezing during play, it can be a way of excitement or communication.
Is it an allergy?
Like humans, our pooches can develop allergies.
Yes, all it takes is the presence of an allergen in the environment or the diet.
You may pinpoint the sneeze to an allergy if it persists.
Look for symptoms such as screechy ears, running nose, ear discharge, watery eyes and red eyes.
In case of allergies, you can solve the problem yourself.
Start by identifying the cause of the allergic reaction.
Does the dog have fleas? Alternatively, it may be the pollen season.
Dealing an allergy is easy, and if it’s just seasonal, there is nothing to worry about.
You can take the dog to the vet for a checkup if you are not able to know the problem.
The veterinary will conduct a diagnosis, and help pinpoint the cause of the allergy. Doctor can recommend antihistamines to resolve the issue.
Bottom Line
Enjoy the sneezes during play thoroughly. It’s one of the ways the dog communicates.
You can recognize, prolonged sneezing with ease, and determine the cause.
Otherwise, hope this helped.
