The Powerful Senses of A Dog

The senses of a dog are the same basic senses that we humans have with smell, taste, touch, hearing and seeing. However, what separates dogs and humans in terms of senses is how powerful they are. Dogs are known for having an incredible sense of smell and here we will explore the five senses that our furry friends possess.

Sight

Dogs may not be able to see the full-colour spectrum however, their vision in the night and their side vision is much stronger than humans. Dogs are commonly mistaken for only seeing the world in shades of white, grey and black when actually they can see yellows and blues as well. A dog’s ability to see will change slightly as they get older and vary from breed to breed.

Hearing

The hearing sense is considered the second-best ability among dogs. Yes, it is true that they have the highest of the pitch and are able to hear lower pitches which are out of the hearing range for humans. In addition to this, they can point out exactly where the noise is coming from. Dogs can determine the location from which a noise is coming from with much greater accuracy than humans. This is one of the main reasons there are specific dog breeds for hunting.

These dogs being faithful to humans are helpful too in many cases proving themselves as a professional working class too. You will be amazed to know that unlike humans, dogs have the tendency to filter out distracting sounds by shutting off their inner ear.

Smell

Considered as the master sense, the smell is the strongest sense they possess. To give you an idea of how powerful a dog’s smell is, they can distinguish between an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a teaspoon of sugar in it compared to one without the sugar. Dogs have an enhanced sense of smell as they have more smell receptors in their nose than humans do. The part of the nose that identifies smell is substantially larger than ours being 40 times bigger than the equivalent in a human’s nose. A dog’s strong sense of smell is also partly why law enforcement such as the police and border protection use them.

Taste

Taste is the sense that is least developed compared to the other senses. While humans have thousands of taste buds letting us decide whether we like something or not, dogs develop very few taste buds. Another difference between humans and dogs in terms of taste is that dogs are more concerned with the smell of food whereas humans generally care more about how it tastes.

Touch

Allowing dogs to socialise and interact, the sense of touch is one of the most important ones for them. Through this sense, they communicate with other animals and grow their bond with humans. Dogs as puppies feel this sense at the time of birth by their mothers such as nuzzling and licking.

Learning about the senses of a dog will help you understand why your furry friend behaves in a certain way and you may learn something interesting facts along the way.