I'm curious...do dogs have beauty marks?

Do you know what a tick looks like?

No, no. These are not ticks. It is raised skin in a circle shape with hairs growing out of it on both sides of my dogs precious little face. Many dogs have them. I was just wondering if all dogs do and also if they have a purpose, or if they are merely beauty marks.

Yes, they do, but if you have any question about it, be sure to point it out to your vet next time you go in.

Sounds like a whiskers bump.

My dog looks as if she wears eyeliner. Does that count?

Yes, they have them! I always thought that was so interesting and cute!

@rooeytoo My dog has permanent eyeliner too. It’s adorable.

Does anyone else think that dog eyebrows are hilarious? Usually there are only 4 or 5 hairs and they are very long and that seems to constitute eyebrows for them :)

I call the random white hairs on my black cat his freckles.

I have heard of moles being called beauty marks, but once hairs start growing out of them I think they’re just moles.

Those “beauty marks” are mounds of nerves that help relay information collected by the whiskers to the brain, Or as Carol Foil, ACVD, a veterinary dermatologist consultant with the Veterinary Information Network in Davis, Calif., put it: “The little beauty marks are mounds of nerves and other connections that make the whiskers function as tactile (feeling) hairs.”

A more technical name for dog whiskers is vibrissae, and they are so sensitive that they can even detect air movement. They allow a dog to know exactly where his face is in the environment, a useful trait when digging holes or pursuing prey or even just getting around the house. One of the reasons blind dogs do so well at home is because they depend on their noses and their whiskers to navigate more than their eyes.

@rooeytoo Our old collie used to have eyeliner eyes too. Very cute!

@Leanne1986 – my dingo mix has a light eye and as you can see on my avatar they are perfectly outlined with an almost black color. It just makes them pop out, we call her “bright eyes!” She is gorgeous, of course I am very prejudiced.

@rooeytoo my Staffy also has a very light eye but the outlines of her eyes are a reddy pink, although she is a real sweetie and adores people, on more than one occassion she has been referred to as the devil dog! Not very helpful when I have made it my mission to prove to the world that Bully breeds aren’t to be feared!!!