15 Ways Showing a Dog’s Amazing Sense of Smell
1. Scientists believe that dogs can smell cancer, Diabetes, and epileptic seizures in their owner’s blood. Dr. Claire Guest of the charity Medical Detection Dogs thinks that dogs can smell faint traces of human chemicals (C-Peptide), allowing them to sense type one diabetes, which makes up 5% of all cases. The dogs can feel the C-Peptide when the patient is at least 12 hours away from eating, but due to being diabetic themselves, they cannot smell it when they are hungry.
2. The dogs are trained to detect blood disorders such as anemia, thalassemia, Diabetes, and cancer. The dogs are trained to detect C-Peptide in the patient’s breath at least 12 hours before eating. This allows the dogs to work out if they have type I or type II diabetes.
3. Dogs can also detect low blood sugar levels in their owners’ urine, which is a cancer symptom, providing immediate alerting. Patients diagnosed with cancer and any other disease where there is a possibility of death should be accompanied by their dog at all times.
4. Dogs can detect epileptic seizures in their owners before they even know they have them. There different types of epileptic seizures, but the most common ones cause loss of consciousness. This means as soon as the dog detects it, they must alert their owners straight away or suffer the seizure themselves. The dogs are trained in the scent of adrenaline and can see this chemical in a person’s sweat at least 12 hours before the seizure. The smell of adrenaline could be caused by the heart beating faster to protect them from falling into a dangerous situation. On these occasions, the dog will bark and growl, alerting their owners to provide more time for the treatment they need.
The dogs are trained with a reward-based system to detect the chemical, enabling them to alert their owners of these seizures.
5. Our understanding of dogs’ abilities is still limited, and this was proven when a dog (who could not be named) was shown to have an uncanny ability to smell cancer in a person. He would bark when he detected the scent of cancer twice every time he smelled it and would start foaming at the mouth while barking wildly.
Dogs are “more sensitive” than humans when it comes to sniffing out and identifying certain cancers so they could potentially be trained as cancer-detection dogs.
Scientists believe that this dog can detect lung cancer in its early stages. The dog was shown to be correct on every occasion as the patient went for a CAT scan, and sure enough, the scan showed signs of lung cancer.
This is not something that can be taught and must come naturally, as it is believed that dogs have robust immune systems which can detect these smells. These dogs are scarce because they are born with these abilities and detect any scent they smell.
6. Dogs can detect Parkinson’s disease, which is a brain disease that drugs can treat. The symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease are shaking, lack of coordination, and stiffness in the arms and legs. Dogs will often notice these symptoms in their owners, and if these symptoms are detected early enough, then the drugs that help with these symptoms can be prescribed to prevent further problems.
7. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell, which they use to understand and explore their environment. Sniffs do this to process the information they gather, search for food or find enemies and prey. Dogs can detect the smells of food, predators, and more, enabling them to scope out their surroundings, which is why they are trained to be sniffer dogs. Dogs use olfaction to tell whether a smell is familiar or not. They can recall the scent of a person they met only once six months previously.
8. Dogs have a strong sense of smell and can detect bombs and explosives. They can find hidden bombs even though their owners do not know where they are, which makes them very useful for people who work around dangerous areas. They are also used to detect drugs and missing people. The olfactory region of the brain in dogs is more significant than in humans so that dogs can use their sense of smell better than humans.
9. Dogs can distinguish between scents, which they use for things such as hunt and what is happening around them. They are also able to tell the difference between various smells, which allows them to determine whether that scent is familiar or not. They can then know whether they will choose to follow that scent and do this even when hundreds of scents are around.
10. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell, which they use to understand and explore their environment. They can often detect foreign odors, enabling them to determine whether some smells are dangerous and whether they should be avoided. They can also distinguish between different scents, which they use to find food that is hidden and prevents danger.
If a dog’s sense of smell is not great, it can hurt its overall health and happiness. These dogs cannot detect things they need in life, such as food and water, making them unhappy and less active. If a dog’s sense of smell does not work correctly, it can also lead to them getting into problems with other animals, as the dog may not be able to tell whether the animal is dangerous or not.
11. Many myths surround dogs’ ability to smell, particularly when it comes to finding dead bodies. One of the most common myths is that they can smell death on a corpse, but this is not true. However, many different smells that a dog can pick up on using its sense of smell. These include blood, explosives, and drugs.
12. Dogs can also detect low blood sugar levels in their owners’ urine, which is a cancer symptom, providing immediate alerting. Patients diagnosed with cancer and any other disease where there is a possibility of death should be accompanied by their dog at all times. This is because the dog can smell chemicals released into the body when a person is dying, alerting them.
13. Dogs’ ability to smell can be used to their advantage to detect things that are annoying or dangerous. This is important in finding a lost child or missing person. Dogs are trained to find lost people and lose dogs by using their sense of smell. If a dog finds a person or a lost dog, it is brought back to the owner with their handler’s help. A handler is a person who trains dogs in the use of their sense of smell. Trainers work with a dog to help it find things and bring back items to the owner.
14. Dogs are also used by the police when they are looking for dangerous drugs. Dogs can smell out drugs that have been planted in many different places, and because of this, they can sometimes find more drugs than people. A dog’s sense of smell can be used to help them find bombs, animals, and drugs, but whatever the owners wish to see in the end, they can do it.
15. Dogs can bring their owners back home if they get lost. This is because they can use their sense of smell to figure out where their owner’s scent is coming from and use that as a compass. These dogs can swim, climb, and dig to get to their owner, who has gone missing for a long time.
Such is the dog’s incredible sense of smell.
