10 Most Interesting Facts About Dogs’ Sense of Smell

As many of you already know, dog's have the most incredible sense of smell. But do you know how their sense of smell works? Check out our top 10 most interesting facts about dogs' sense of smell. 

It overpowers our own.
Dogs’ sense of smell overpowers humans by a lot. It is between 10,000 to 100,000 times better than ours! For example, a dog could detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water, which would be the size of two Olympic-sized pools.

They have 300 million receptors in the noses.
This number already sounds big but compared to our six million, it makes it seem like we barely have any.

The “smelling” part of the brain is bigger.
Not only do they have more receptors but the part of a dog's brain that is devoted to analysing smells is 40 times greater than ours.

They see the world through smells.
Since humans have a cloud of smell around us, that dogs can detect, they can smell us before we are even near them.

They can travel through time.
Not in the time traveller sense, but dogs can perceive what is coming up and what has been there before because their sense of smell is so good.
They can get better sniffs.
As a dog exhales, an air current is created which kicks up more odour molecules which are then inhaled giving them more and better information.

Dogs can’t classify “good” or “bad” smells.
Unlike dogs, we don’t have a highly developed sense of smell so our descriptions are usually “it smells good” or “it smells bad.” However, dogs can smell all the components of something. For example, freshly baked cookies we would say "that smells delicious" where a dog would be able to smell the exact ingredients like flour, sugar, and eggs.

Humans stink.
Every human and every owner has a unique scent that helps our dog distinguish who we are. So to them, we are our scent.
You can’t fool their sense of smell.
Dog’s can smell much more than just a detailed version of what we can smell. They can smell fear, anxiety, and sadness. Even if you are masking your feelings to your friends, your dog will be able to tell something is wrong.

There’s a reason dogs smell each other's butts.
We know that when dogs smell each other’s butts and other areas, it's actually so they can learn more about the other animal. Scientists don’t know exactly what information they are gathering but they think it has to do with the dog’s personality, age, and behaviour.

Dog’s are amazing creatures and their sense of smell is just another way to prove that. Give your dog a nice pet tonight and remember they will know you are on your way over to them just by your smell!