Dogs And Their Incredible Sense Of Smell

While sight is probably the dominant sense for humans, in dogs the sense of smell is dominant. This isn’t a happenstance. God designed dogs to have a dominant sense of smell. While the human brain is dominated by a large visual cortex, a dog’s brain is dominated by an olfactory (smell) cortex. Relative to its brain size, a dog’s olfactory cortex is about 40 times larger than that in humans.

Because of this, a dog’s sensory world is composed of dozens of good and bad odors that intersect and constantly change. We humans are unable to detect the vast majority of these smells. The sensory world of men and women is very different than that of a dog.

I have a golden retriever and a beagle. I like to make homemade dog treats for our dogs. I’ve observed that when I toss out these dog treats into our yard, our dogs don’t look for them by sight. At first, it seems a bit odd that, even though the dog treats are in plain sight, both my dogs search for them by sniffing the earth.

Yet, it’s only strange because humans live in such a completely different sensory world. If we were required to find things by smell, we would be almost totally helpless. Without their sense of smell, dogs would be in a similar position. For a dog, it is only natural to use his nose, rather than his eyes, to find food.

The Canine Sense of Smell: More Than Incredible

The reality is that a dog’s ability to smell is around fifty to one hundred times greater than it is in mankind. In fact, dogs can discriminate odors even when they are in solutions almost one hundred million times lower than a human would be able to detect. They can smell the presence of a tiny drop of blood in two gallons of water. The more the air is moving outside, the more scents canines are able to detect.

This winter, I threw out a bread crust on top of the fresh snow for the birds. Because there was plenty of seed in the feeders and more seed spread on the snow, the birds ignored the bread crust. Later, we received over a foot of snow, and so the crust was totally buried. I assumed that some bird had consumed it.

The next day, our pet dog walked by the bird feeders when I let her out to exercise. She instantly caught the smell of something, and she quickly buried her head in the snow. I figured maybe there was a mouse down there or some other critter. Yet, she soon came back out, proudly displaying the bread crust in her mouth. Although it was old and dry and was buried under a foot of snow, our dog immediately caught the smell just from trotting by.

Since that episode, we’ve made a regular game out of it. I hide my dog treats somewhere on our lawn. Then I turn her loose to find them.

How Dogs Have Benefited Humans

It didn’t take humans long to appreciate a dog’s keen sense of smell and to put it to man’s use. For thousands of years, humans have used dogs to track down game animals. In more recent times, dogs have been used to search for missing persons and escaped convicts. Even though it’s several days old, Labrador retrievers and many other breeds of dogs can track a person’s scent. Even rain won’t wash the scent away.

In recent years, the government has trained canines to sniff out explosives and illegal drugs. A smuggler can place the explosives or drugs in an airtight container with many powerful scents around them. Nevertheless, a drug-sniffing hound will have no trouble pinpointing the illegal drugs.

Who knows? Someday some dog may save your life or protect you from injury. She may be your own dog. What’s more, some dogs have actually be able to detect malignant tumors in their owners. Therefore, treat your dog as the friend she truly is. Reward her with a a nutritious diet, plenty of attention, a good place to live, and lots of dog treats.

The author, Robert Hamilton, is a dog owner who writes frequently about dogs. He enjoys preparing his own dog food and dog treats at home. On his website, he has published a number of free recipes for homemade canine treats that you can easily make for your own dog.