5 Fun Facts About a Dog’s Sense of Smell
A dog’s sense of smell is one of its “superpowers.” It is an acute sense, and our four-legged friends love to use it to their advantage!
To better understand how strong a dog’s sense of smell is, look at our five fun facts below. You may be surprised along the way!
- Dogs have the most vital sense of smell. Research shows a dog’s sense of smell can be up to 100,000 times more acute than a human’s!
Dogs have an excellent understanding of smell due to their number of scent receptors.
- Dogs smell differently compared to humans. Did you know that when we inhale, the air we breathe passes through our noses and moves down our tracheas into our lungs? Dogs do not breathe like this. About 13% of a dog’s inhaled air is separated through an upper pathway that leads to its olfactory epithelium.
- Dogs use a unique smelling organ. Dogs have a vomeronasal organ that is located above the roof of their mouths. This organ is responsible for detecting pheromones.
- Dogs use their sense of smell to determine if you are stressed. We know that our four-legged friends are intelligent. This is another example of how dogs can use their sense of smell to their advantage. A study by Queen’s University determined that when humans are stressed, their breath and sweat samples contain chemicals that dogs detect.
- Dogs can sniff out diseases. Dog noses are used in medicine to detect certain illnesses. Our four-legged friends have a history of detecting cancer, predicting seizures, and identifying people with low blood sugar.
We hope you enjoyed our fun facts about a dog’s sense of smell! As you can see, dogs use their strong sense of smell to their advantage!
There are many more things that dogs can do with their sense of smell, including long-distance tracking. It’s simply remarkable!
