Your Dog's Nose Has A Keen Sense of Smell

Dogs rely more on their sense of smell to explore their world just has people rely on their eye sight. Dogs also take in has much information through their nose has people do through their eyes, it’s hard to believe but true.

When you’re out walking your dog and you meet another dog, the first thing they do is smell each other , or if you meet a friend that your dog has not met before your dog will smell them, because your dog is gathering information and will also remember those smells the next time.

To gain more respect for your dog's sense of smelling ability, lets see  how it compare to a person's nose. Each one has scent-detecting cells within a spongy membrane as well as the nerves that send information to the brain. In a person the area containing these odor analyzers is about the size of a postage stamp, but in the dog if unfolded would be about the size of copy paper

A dog's brain is also programmed for identifying scents. The percentage of the dog's brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is actually 40 times larger than that of a human! It's been estimated that dogs can identify smells somewhere between 1,000 to 10,000 times better than people can. Humans have about 5 million Scent Receptors, where dogs like a German Shepherd will have about 225 million Scent Receptors and a Bloodhound will have 300 million Scent Receptors. This is why in our modern world dogs are used to sniff out bombs and find hidden drugs and criminals hiding or on the run, or even find you in the yard or house .

Take a magnifying glass and look at your dogs nose, you will see a pattern of lines and ridges around and blending in with your dog’s nostril openings making up a nose print, some believe it to be as individual has a person’s fingerprints. Many Companies and kennel clubs around the world register nose prints of dogs as a way of identifying them and also to find them if they are lost or stolen.

If you want to take a nose print of your dog’s nose it's real easy, always press softly on your dog’s nose so you do not hurt it in any way. First wipe your dog's nose with a Paper towel to make sure it is dry, with food coloring on a cotton ball lightly coat your dog’s nose with it. You may need someone to help you while you get your dogs nose print. Hold a pad of paper to their nose, make sure to let the pad's sides curve around to pick up a print  from both sides of the dog's nose . You may have to try a few times until you get the right amount of food coloring and the right amount of pressure to get a good print in which the little patterns on the nose are clean and clear.The food coloring is nontoxic and can be cleaned off your dog’s nose easily. Never use ink or paint on your dog’s nose, it could hurt their nose and also could make them very sick.

So next time you are out with your dog and see them smelling everything around them you’ll know they are gathering information about their world .