Dogs are one of the world’s most beloved household pets. However, “man’s best friend” is good for more than just fetching sticks. Dogs are used all over the world for a variety of reasons. Dogs help save lives by being a part of search and rescue teams, bomb squads, and being support animals for those who have medical conditions that can be life-threatening. In the United States, there are roughly 500,000 service dogs helping humans increase their quality of life. A dog’s sense of smell is the key to its utility.

Bomb-Sniffing Dog

Bomb-sniffing Dog

In the past, dogs were mainly used to help hunt or herd livestock. Now certain breeds of dogs can pick up scents that can be linked to seizures, anxiety, or blood sugar. Recently Britt Grogan  went into diabetic shock as she was flying cross country. Luckily, she had her service dog Ruxx, who was able to sense her low blood sugar and notify her. “The dog literally saved her life by just telling her your blood sugar is low and you need to wake up and take care of yourself”.

A dog’s sense of smell is one of the most sensitive in the animal kingdom. Certain breeds of dogs have over 300 million scent receptors. Humans cap out at just about 6 million scent receptors in our noses. The way dogs smell is a more refined process than it is in humans. Dogs have a much larger olfactory system than humans which is key to their keen sense of smell. The olfactory system is responsible for the brain to process the sense of smell. The snout of a dog consists of its nostrils, respiratory epithelium, and olfactory epithelium. The olfactory system of a dog consists of a single passageway.  It starts from their nostrils connecting to their respiratory epithelium. The scent continues to travel up their snout to their olfactory epithelium which sends signals to their olfactory bulb that connects to their b

rain. The special thing about dogs is that their olfactory bulb takes up a larger part of their brain relative to humans. This allows their brains to process the mountain of information that their scent receptors send to their brains.

Physiology of Dog’s snout

It is incredible how useful and sensitive the sense of smell of a canine is. A dog’s nose sheds light on a world we cannot see.