Sniffing around

I love to smell things. Using my nose I can create a mental map of what's going on in my neighborhood, and what's happening with my favourite people (well, person really, but I am trying to be tolerant of THAT MAN. It's my resolution of the day. Usually my resolutions are things like: "Dig up that old bone in the backyard under the maple tree" or "run around in the pond" or "bark like crazy all day", so I am feeling pretty virtuous about today's resolution.)

My sense of smell is so much better than my eyesight (that's why I bark, sometimes - I can see something a few metres away, but I am not sure of what it is so I bark to show them I am not frightened of it). Also, my hearing isn't that good, one ear is worse than the other.

But what is important is my abilities, not the things I CAN'T do; and I am very good at lots of things. Like: running, eating, jumping, eating, barking, eating, digging, eating. And, I have my sense of smell, which is up to one million times that of a human's.

The smelling receiver is made up of a mucous, a labyrinth of innumerable folds that could cover a surface of 130 m² compared to the 3 m² that humans have. A dog has 120 to 220 million cells next to man's 5 million cells. So, I can detect the change of character of other dogs or humans around me, just by detecting the slight increase or decrease of their hormonal levels and their sweat. This has nothing to do with a sixth sense: dogs can just detect certain signals that go unnoticed by humans.

That's why dogs sniff other dogs, especially their butts. SOOO much information can be gathered! Same with people's butts. Its like a computer check on their mental and physical wellbeing, with a police check and a few character references thrown in for good measure. Which is why I don't understand when THAT MAN tells me off for sniffing. It's perfectly natural, and very helpful, and really I just can't help myself, I HAVE to do it.

So my sense of smell means that I know when my favourite person is happy or sad, I can tell when other dogs think they are the boss of me (they're NOT, see previous post), when humans feel sick, when THAT MAN is getting my food ready. Did I mention I'm very good at eating?

Anyway, the great sense of smell is why dogs are used to track other animals, to find missing people, to track down criminals, to hunt for drugs or money, and find mushrooms (truffles).

So while humans use a handshake to greet people, I'm sticking with sniffing the other dogs' butt. Or the human's butt. It's a lot more informative, you should try it sometime.

with a sniff and a lick, love from Kenny the wonderdog