Researchers at Virginia Tech University have been studying how dogs drink. They say dogs know exactly what they are doing. The animals are actually making precise movements at a high speed. This helps them get the fluid they need when they are thirsty. It turns out that neither dogs, nor cats, have a full set of cheeks. This means they cannot create suction to drink, like humans or elephants and horses. Dogs lap, or take up, the water with their tongues curled backward. As they lap, they move their tongues very quickly to build up momentum. That forces the water into a column and up into their mouths. The Virginia Tech researchers filmed 19 dogs of different sizes and breeds as they drank water. They created different laboratory models to measure tongue motion, and the amounts of water taken in. Using the data from these experiments, the researchers were able to make a model that shows how a dog drinks water.