The dog smell: its most outstanding feature

He Sense of smell is the most developed in dogsIt is up to 10,000 times more sensitive than its sense of taste and much more acute than your vision. If we compare it with that of the human being, they leave us behind much. Dogs have between 200 and 300 million olfactory receptors, compared to the five million we can have. These receptors are distributed in their nose by covering the mucosa, which is extremely folded, thus increasing the receiving surface.  

In addition, comparing ourselves based on the brain area dedicated to smell, in dogs it is 40 times greater than in humans. That great quality of our good hairy friends has been used to carry out different activities in which have a good smell To guide themselves.

Importance of dog smell

It is said that dogs "see" through their nose due to the sensitivity they have to distinguish smells. That sensitivity is given by the presence of an organ located in the nose, on the vomer bone, called Jacobson organ. This organ is present in many vertebrate animals, but in dogs their functioning is particularly important to allow them to extract smells from the air. The particles that make up the odors represent traces that can be followed by a dog even though they have been expelled some time ago.

 Smells also help our good friends to orient and communicate. The great olfactory capacity they have It makes them develop an olfactory memory that allows them to remember objects, people, places and other animals for their smell, along with their vision. They would even find their owner in the middle of a stadium full of people just because of the unique olfactory trace they can capture! But not everything is pink for the smell of dogs. Due to their high sensitivity, there are some smells that can be unbearable. The smell of citrus fruits can cause them irritation in the airways, the vinegar, the spicy, the nail polish, the cleaning products, the sprays and even the perfumes can be unpleasant and even unbearable for the dogs.

How does the smell of dogs help us?

Hunting dogs

Dogs have been, par excellence, our great classmates in various daily or sports activities, in which Its olfactory capacity is your best quality. Of course, one of the best known activities we do with dogs is hunting. And there are enormous differences between races and, even, between litters in terms of olfactory capacity.

But not always a good olfactory capacity Indicates a good adventure partner. Also the disposition for the search for dams must complement the smell for the selection of the best copy to perform the work. The best valued dog breed for hunting, even a king, is the hound or Bloodhound. Many of its physical characteristics make this dog ideal for tracking: its fine smell in a nose with great open graves; its long ears, which allow to "collect" the smell of the ground and carry it up; and the fur of the neck and heads loose enough to catch and retain the smells.

Shepherd dogs

The shepherd dogs Of different types of herds are another of the examples of help in which they have accompanied us in our daily lives. Dogs use smell not only to recognize the members of the flock, but also to detect the presence of predators. Shepherd dogs are usually intelligent, agile animals, with great learning and resolving capacity

unforeseen situations.

The grazing dog par excellence is the Border Collie, which is almost "designed" for that work. It is an intelligent and agile dog, which requires being in constant movement in open spaces. Attentive and affectionate with its owner, he is always willing to do the work entrusted to him.

Truffle dogs

And as dogs can be trained to distinguish a particular characteristic smell, because they also help us improve our culinary art. Dogs can be trained to look for different types of mushrooms and fungi, in addition to the highly valued truffle. The calls truffle dogs They dedicate a lot of time to travel and smell a field in search of the smell that gives off a truffle that is underground. Once they find her, they begin to dig at the site until the owner arrives to harvest her.

For the search for truffles, the wishes and also the Labrador Retriever have been traditionally used, but Any dog ​​can be trained for this activity. However, you must meet certain conditions to perform this type of work: have a good smell, of course; be very obedient and not clueless; Quiet, but in good physical form to spend many hours in the field sniffing and moving from one place to another.

Police dogs and for search and rescue

Its infallible smell is widely used for the detection of drugs and explosives. It is almost impossible to make fun of the olfactory capacity of a well -trained dog for these tasks. They can distinguish between a wide variety of drugs and even detect pickels of paper money. In addition, whenever a tragedy happens they are the first ones we see doing an almost frantic search to detect a trace of life. Its ability to distinguish a certain smell in the midst of many others has allowed them to be the great heroes in the rescue of people buried in an earthquake or kidnapping victims. The Golden Retriever, the German shepherd and the Belgian pastor are some of the most used races.

Visit the next post of our blog to learn more about police dogs.

Detecting diseases

Recently studies have begun to see the form of Train the smell of dogs in disease detection. Positive results have been obtained detecting prostate cancer through the smell of patients urine. It has also worked with diabetic patients and it has been achieved that the dog is able to detect a hypoglycemic attack even before it becomes produced.