Your dog’s sense of smell is incredible, and it’s their most dominant sense.
For humans, it’s sight, and for dogs it’s smell.
If aliens arrived and told us that they ‘see’ the world via their noses, we’d be amazed.
And yet, we have fully paid-up aliens living in our houses, taking in the world around them in a completely different way to us.
It’s so important that offering up a dedicated sniff walk once or twice a week could really add a bit of joy to their lives. You can find out more about it in our ‘Sniff Walk’ article.
In the meantime, here’s a bit more on what makes our dog’s smell sense so incredible…
10 Reasons why your dog’s sense of smell is so good
1. Dogs have more specialised smell-related areas in their brain than humans.
40x more of a dog’s brain is dedicated to smell than a human’s brain.
2. They have many millions more scent receptors in the nose.
Humans – 5 million
Dachshund – 125 million
German Shepherd – 225 million
Bloodhound – 300 million
3. More accurate smell receptors.
Dog’s have smell receptors that are 10,000 times more accurate than humans (with some dogs up to 100,000 times more).
4. Their nostrils work separately.
This allows your dog to work out smell directions – getting their smells in 3D and painting a picture of the smell world.
5. Dogs can detect reductions in concentrations of odour molecules.
That’s why a bloodhound following a trail knows which way the person they’re tracking is going.
6. They can even detect heat sources.
A dog’s cold nose tip can detect heat sources such as the size of a rabbit up to 1.5 meters away (no hiding place!).
7. Dogs can inhale up to 300 times per minute when sniffing.
8. A dog’s nose separates air – one part for breathing – one part for smelling.
9. When sniffing – dogs can breathe in and out at the same time – not in then out like us.
10. They have a specialist organ for smelling pheromones.
It’s called the Vomeronasal organ (also known as Jacobson’s organ) and is specifically for detecting other dog’s pheromones. Dogs use pheromones to highlight reproductive status, mark territory, raise the alarm, and even help calm puppies.
Want to find out more? Check out these lovely articles…
https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/dog-facts-science/
https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/5-dog-nose-facts-you-probably-didnt-know
https://dogdiscoveries.com/health/dogs-vomeronasal-organ
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/health/the-canine-sense-of-smell/
https://listverse.com/2020/02/10/top-10-fascinating-facts-about-the-mind-of-a-dog/