The Nose Knows
A dog uses his nose to interpret his world the way we humans use our eyes. He can gain all the information he needs about his environment utilizing his amazing sense of smell.
The nose is full of special cells that transport information about smells. A human nose has about a square inch of these special cells while a dog’s nose contains an area as large as 60 square inches of scent-detecting cells! Combined with a large percentage of his brain devoted to analyzing smells, it is estimated that a dog’s ability to identify smells is 1,000 to 10,000 times better than humans. Although dogs still surpass humans in the area of scent detection, there are varying degrees among breeds. For instance, a Dachshund as approximately 125 million scent receptors while a Bloodhound has 300 million.
It is because of their strong sense of smell and ability to discern scents that dogs are so often used by humans in many ways to assist them in search and rescue missions, narcotics and contraband, homeland security and even forensics. There is even recent tests that have shown that some dogs may even be able to detect some types of tumors in humans.
Intrigued? Want to discover how well your dog’s sense of smell really is? Join us for our Scent Discrimination class where you can teach your dog to find that lost set of keys, your cell phone or that remote control that always seems to be buried somewhere in the sofa cushions. This course is great for that high-energy dog that wants something to do. Works off extra energy while putting that nose and brain to work!
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