Dog Articles

Text Advertising

A dog's sense of smell is the most refined sense they have. They can detect smells from skin cells that are several days old, sniff out drugs hidden in body cavities, detect bombs, smell bodies buried in rubble or snow, and can even detect the presence of melanoma. A dog's sense of smell is about 4 times greater than that of humans. Humans have approximately five million scent receptors. This pales in comparison to the 200 million scent receptors located in the nose of a dog.

If you have approached your dog from a distance, you have surely noticed that the dog looks towards you, may respond to your voice when you get a bit closer, but still seems hesitant to come to you until you reach a certain point. This is because the dog waits until he picks up your scent before fully trusting that it is indeed you that is coming his direction. A dog's sense of sight is the one he trusts the least. While dogs do not distinguish color as well as humans, their ability to see in darkness is astounding and they are very sensitive to movements. A dog may not see as clearly as humans, but when something moves in darkness, a dog will detect it immediately.

Dogs have an incredible sense of hearing compared to humans. A dog can locate the location of a sound in about 6/100 of a second. A dog's hearing ability encompasses many more frequencies that that of human beings. The remarkable sense of hearing combined with an impressive sense of smell is what makes some dogs excellent guard or protection dogs. Dogs also have an enhanced sense of touch. Their entire body is covered with sensitive nerve endings, which could be the reason your dogs enjoys being petted and touched often.

The sense of taste in dogs is markedly less sensitive than in a human. A dog gets most of his sense of taste from smells. In addition to the senses we know, dogs seem to have a mechanism that allows them to detect changes in weather, the earth's magnetic field, and even the mood of its master.