Here's Why Your Dogs Love To Lie In The Sun

Do you ever notice that your dog seems to lie in the sun a lot? You may assume that it’s just because of the comforting warmth, but it goes beyond that!

The sun provides living beings with vitamin D, which is an important vitamin that we need enough of in order to maintain good health. Dogs who lie in the sun are actually stocking up on vitamin D! The fact that it feels nice and relaxing is just an added bonus.

Vitamin D is fairly important for dogs, especially given the fact that it is considered a pro-hormone, meaning its function is more similar to that of a hormone than a typical vitamin. Still, it has many important vitamin functions, such as:

• It helps dogs absorb calcium, which they cannot do without vitamin D
• It regulates the balance of phosphorus and calcium for canines
• It aids in nerve and muscle control, as well as the formation of bones

For humans, vitamin D absorption is easy – the UV rays of the sun break down our skin oils, building vitamin D3 in the process, all within 20 minutes. But for dogs, their fur prevents this from happening, and they often wind up with vitamin D3 on their fur that gets ingested with they groom themselves. As such, they lay in the sun in order to build up that vitamin to “eat” it later!

Feature Image Source: Pixabay