On the surface, your dog’s nose may look wet, wriggling, and cute. But your pup’s nose is actually a powerful device that guides him through his days in pretty impressive ways.
Dogs noses are specifically adapted to function much better than ours. They have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, versus only about 6 million for us. And the part of their brain dedicated to interpreting these is about 40 times larger than ours.
Here are six interesting facts about your canine's sense of smell that prove dogs have superior sniffers:
- A canine’s nose has two functions: One for smell and one for respiration. A canine’s nose has the ability to separate air. A portion goes to the olfactory sensing area, which distinguishes scents, while the other portion is devoted to breathing.
- Dogs also have the ability to breathe in and breathe out air at the same time. When sniffing, dogs noses are designed in order that air can move in and out at the same time, unlike humans who have to either breathe in or out only.
- Dogs have a special scent-detecting organ that humans don’t have. This is called the vomeronasal organ and it helps canines detect pheromones, chemicals released by animals that affect other members of the same species. This organ plays an important role in reproduction and other aspects of canine physiology and behavior.
- Dogs smell in all dimensions. Dogs can smell separately with each nostril. Just as our eyes compile two slightly different views of the world, and our brain combines them to form a three-dimensional picture, a dog’s brain uses the different odor profiles from each nostril to determine exactly where smelly objects are in the environment.
- A dog’s nose has evolved to help them survive. Dogs have used their noses to assist with major life events since the beginning of time. Evolutionarily, a dog’s sense of smell helps them find a mate, offspring, food, and avoid predators.
- Dogs can smell up to 100,000 times better than a human. A dog's sense of smell is its most powerful sense. It is so sensitive that canines can detect the equivalent of a half a teaspoon of sugar in a large swimming pool.
