A Quick Guide to Dogs And Their Unique Sense of Smell

Olfactory receptors, also known as odorant receptors, are neurons in our brains that help us detect and distinguish different smells. Humans have around 6 Million of these receptors, dogs have up to 300 million of these receptors, scientists still do not know how all these extra receptors affect the dogs but are beginning to search for some answers. So next time you are out for a walk with your dog and is sniffing around give him that extra five seconds of sniff.

A Curious Nose

Dogs can’t text or use the internet so finding out what is going on in the outside world can be difficult for them. Thankfully if your a responsible dog owner your pup gets walks daily, on which he is free to smell all the wonders of the outdoors, fire hydrants, trees, people, and other dog butts. If us humans think it smells nice in the spring time just imagine how awesome it smells to dogs whose noses are incredibly more complex than our human noses.

Coded Urine

If you walk your dog on a regular route you may have noticed your dog tends to smell the same places and pee on the same spots. This behavior is often thought to be the dog attempting to mark or claim its territory, this may be true for some cases but often enough the dog is doing this as a means of communication to interact with the other dogs in the neighborhood. Even though the other dogs may have been long past the spot your dog is smelling your dog still can find their scent.

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