A Dog's Sense of Smell
Smell
is a dog's most highly developed sense. Dogs' wet noses dissolve
the scent molecules and help them detect smells that humans can't
perceive. Many dog experts believe that the canine sense of smell
allows dogs to communicate with one another and helps define their
relationship. Dogs use their olfactory senses to interpret other dog's
pheromones and learn important information regarding gender and
receptivity to mating.
Experts estimate that dogs can catch a whiff of something that's one
million times less concentrated than what humans can detect. With so
much sniff power, it's hardly surprising that they stick their heads
out car windows. They could care less about the scenery. What they're
after are smells. If you're driving through town at 30 miles an hour
and your dog has his nose out the window, he knows where the bakery is,
where the butcher shop is, which street leads to the local McDonald's,
and maybe even what the mayor had for breakfast.
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To gain more respect for your dog's olfactory ability, compare it to a
person's nose. Inside the nose of both species are bony scroll-shaped
plates, called turbinates, over which air passes. A microscopic view of
this organ reveals a thick, spongy membrane that contains most of the
scent-detecting cells, as well as the nerves that transport information
to the brain. In humans, the area containing these odor analyzers is
about one square inch, or the size of a postage stamp. If you could
unfold this area in a dog, on the other hand, it may be as large as 60
square inches, or just under the size of a piece of typing paper.
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Scent-Detecting Table in People and Dog Breeds...