HOW DO DOGS SMELL?
See inside the
nose of man’s
best friend
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
When it comes to a strong sense of smell, there are few animals that can outperform our canine companions. In the same way that humans rely predominantly on sight as a way of perceiving their environment, dogs’ dominant sense to interpret the world around them is smell, so this sense is more advanced than in other animals, including humans. On average, dogs have a sense of smell around 100,000 times more sensitive than humans thanks to millions of olfactory receptors at the front of their brains. Dogs are able to smell around one part per trillion, equal to sniffing out a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Dogs use smell as a way to communicate with other dogs, assert dominance, attract a mate and engage in play. This is evidenced when two dogs engage in sniffing each other’s rear ends. A whiff of another dog’s anal glands can provide them with a whole host of information, such as age, sex, health and even mood.