Today I’m going to talk about your dog’s superpowers… their sense of smell!

Did you know that dogs are 10-100 times better at smelling than they are at smelling?!

It is really wonderful…

They pick up so many things that our noses can’t even feel them.

This may be the reason why your dog’s nose always drops to the ground during his daily walks! And try to sniff every person or animal that enters your house!

While your dog may be annoyed by the constant smell of your guests, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The fact that they smell says a lot about their surroundings. They can tell where they are by smelling the place, while we rely on our eyesight to tell us.

And many dogs have “working noses”. They are taught to use their noses to smell train station drugs, airport bombs, or even missing people.

Have you ever wondered why dogs smell everything (and everyone)?  Let’s take a look at why
your dog sniffs all the time.

Your dog’s nose: their window to the world

When we try to choose between two things, we humans use our insight to make a decision. For example, we look at two pairs of shoes to see which pair we want to buy.

The primary sense of a dog is the sense of smell. The scent of a person, animal, or thing reveals a lot of information to a dog.

Just see how the dogs greet each other.

They smell each other (and they smell them, too)!

Everything that the dog understands in its environment is transmitted to it in the muzzle.

With a simple sniff, dogs can tell if they’ve met this dog or person before, where they’ve been, and they can even learn about medical issues (we’ll get to that in a bit).

Since they rely so heavily on scents, it’s no wonder that they smell everything compulsively!

An autopsy shows how important a dog’s sense of smell is…

Dogs are only associated with smell

The genetic makeup and internal organs of a dog show how strong it smells.

They actually have an organ designed just to help them smell!

It is called the ethmoid organ (or Jacobson’s organ) and is located in the lower part of the nasal passage near the palate. This organ contains receptors that are used to detect pheromones that help dogs communicate with each other.

Even their minds show us how to get rid of unpleasant odors. The dog’s brain has a larger olfactory cortex than the human brain. In fact, it is 40 times larger than ours! This helps them process and understand smells much better than humans do.

Can you really blame them for sniffing all your friends? They do what is natural for them.

A dog’s nose can do amazing things.

In addition to simply interpreting the world around them, many dogs are trained to use their noses for a specific purpose.

Because an intense sense of smell can bring a lot of benefits!

A dog’s nose can help you find missing children, sniff out drugs or bombs, and even look for truffles in the woods. 

Dogs can even smell ailments like low blood sugar (vital for diabetics) and even cancer. 

It’s really cool for dogs to feel!

And while dogs do things that are practical with their ability to smell, they also do weird things, like sniffing out electrolytes.

How embarrassing when a guest enters your home and your dog immediately runs to sniff his ass?!

While this might make you apologize for your dog’s behavior, your furry friend gathers a lot of information through this simple act.

After smelling someone’s scent, the dog can say:

• If they have met this person before
• If they are men or women
• Where have they been lately
• Even what they can eat
• And much more!

So, while it may seem a little awkward to you, your dog actually greets your guest in the best way possible!

It can be annoying when your dog ignores you when it catches an interesting scent.

What do you do when your dog ignores you and follows his nose?

While it is important to allow your dog to explore with their sense of smell (which satisfies their natural sense of smell), this can become a problem when your dog follows their nose anxiously rather than listening to you.

Whether you find your dog running away from you looking for a scent at the dog park or you spend a lot of time sniffing the vagrants of your friends, a little training can go a long way!

I’m certainly not a fan of your dog and he doesn’t sniff, but he should always look to you for advice and follow your example, even if his nose is pulling him in a different direction. 

So, how do you try to train a dog when there are so many pleasant smells coming from it?

Just like you train them when you have other distractions around you like proteins or food…

You need to speak his language and make dog decisions!

Once you learn how to communicate in a way that they understand, you can teach them to listen to you, no matter what is going on around them.

Thus, even if you ask them for his nose to sniff that person’s mouth, they will look at you for directions. This is the time when you can invite them to sniff the guest’s hand instead of showing up to say hello.