How is it that a running dog can crash onto a piece of furniture and not seem to feel pain?

If you watch closely, and it has hurt enough, you will most likely see small signs of discomfort. Some dogs will tongue-flick in response to sudden pain, shake themselves, or yawn.

The “zoomies” actually work to relieve stress that’s why a dog who just had a bath will often gallop around the entire house, dripping wet. From your dog’s point of view, resuming zooming makes perfect sense – it feels good!

EDIT:

I wrote a poem for you:

Resuming zooming…
…less…
…stress.

Animals, particularly dogs, tend to be stoic and not show pain unless it’s severe. My dog has hip dysplasia and, even though she doesn’t sit there and cry all day, I know her joints hurt her more often than not. That’s why it’s important to take your animal to the vet for certain things even if they aren’t acting like they’re in pain. They very well could be.

A human stubs their toe and acts like it was chopped off. A dog runs into furniture and immediately shakes it off and keeps going. Yet another reason dogs are better than people.

Animals don’t get off on the theatrics like humans. Ever listen to George Carlin? He referred to cats. If one runs into a door it walks off like nothings wrong. But if you look behind the sofa in a bit it’s back there saying fucking meow.

I think they cover it due to embarrassment, to some extent. Certainly cats do this.

I have noticed that later they will start limping or licking. “Yep, it hurt but I am not going to let that stop my fun” type attitude.
I have to be careful with my dog. He will run headlong into a wall if that is where the ball is going or contort himself into a pretzel shape if he overshoots it. At his age though, I have to take into account that he could badly hurt himself. Still, he gives me that “Seriously?” look when I throw a slow, easy lob. I may think he is old but he doesn’t.

Believe me dogs feel pain. They deal with it differently than humans.

In the wild an animal that shows pain (by crying out or limping) is seen by other animals as weakness and as such are vulnerable to attack. Dogs and cats are domesticated but in this regard they are not far removed from the wild. This is partly the reason that it is hard to tell where a dog or cat is injured. It’s natural for them to try to hide it.

Of course dogs and cats feel pain, they just don’t know how to yell “OUCH” or “SHIT, THAT HURT!!!” However, my cat sure knows how to let out a loud screech when his tail gets stepped on.

What? You don’t remember being a kid? Indestructible?

Man, I do! When I was in middle school I fell on the stairs and twisted my foot up under the full weight of my body. Twice I surely cracked the small bones at the top of my foot (if not broke them), but I barely even slowed down. Jumped up, walked to class and kept my regular routine. There are decent sized knots on those bones still today, 40 years later.

I’ll still do the same today. Fall on the ice and spring right back up, moving toward my destination. It’s the COLD causing my eyes to water!

Well he can’t just say “Fuck! That kinda hurt”.