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The interactive dog atlas · Exterior and regions · Head

Nostrils nares

The nostrils are the openings of the nose. In the dog they are comma-shaped, with the wide part toward the middle and the narrow tail toward the side and backward.

Open in the interactive atlas Guide: Exterior Worksheet

Educational material, not a diagnostic tool. Written by the Mantrailing România team from veterinary sources we read. Updated 14.11.2026.

Dog in left lateral view — exterior, muscles, skeleton and organs Vector study after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates: a standing dog, head to the left, deep chest and digitigrade limbs. The four layers use the same contour: exterior with body regions, superficial muscles, skeleton and organs.
  1. Nostrils
  2. Nose (nose leather)
  3. Muzzle
Nostrils on the atlas drawing, "Exterior and regions" layer, with the neighbouring structures. Left lateral view, after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates.

Where it is

The two openings of the nose, in the planum nasale of the nose leather.

System
Body regions
Region
Head

What it is and what it does

The nostrils are the external openings of the nasal cavity, set in the planum nasale, the bare skin of the nose leather. In the dog each nostril is comma-shaped, with the wide part next to the septum and the narrow tail pointing backward and outward, into a groove, the alar groove, barely marked in carnivores. The upper edge, the wing of the nostril, is convex and mobile; the levator nasolabialis pulls on it.

Worth remembering

Each nostril takes a separate sample of air; see “Journey of a Scent”.

Names

  • Also called: nostril, wing of the nostril.
  • Latin term: nares.
  • In Romanian: Nările (Romanian page).

In the atlas lessons

Journey of a scent (5 min).

Questions from the atlas

"Find it on the drawing" questions whose answer is this structure; in the atlas you will find them in the question bank and in the lessons.

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Head

All structures, in the atlas · Flashcards: exterior and regions