Canine Sensory Perceptions and the Car-Riding Dog. By Myrna Milani, BS, DVM (Originally written for DogWatch, a newsletter for the general public from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine) My dog, Alfie, loves to ride in the car with his head hanging out the window. He has such an entranced look on his face, I can't help wondering what's going through his mind. Until we humans master dog-think, we can only guess Alfie's thoughts as he rides down the road. However, we can make a few assumptions based on what we know about canine perception.
Recall that the dog's evolution as a social predator who often hunted in limited light led to the development of senses that complimented this lifestyle. What happens when we take that kind of perception and give it to a fur-covered passenger inside a moving vehicle? To understand how this works, imagine driving to a friend's home. For many dog owners the canine response to the invitation, "Wanna go for a ride?
" Return to Dog Articles. Inside of a Dog. Cesar Millan | Dog Training DVDs, Books, Dog Supplies. Articles & Video Tutorials. Understanding a Dog's Senses. Understanding a Dog's Senses A big part of understanding your dog is understanding its senses and accepting that they are indeed different than humans. Both humans and dogs have the same three senses: sight, hearing and smelling, however while most humans communicate by hearing, seeing, and then smelling, dogs primarily communicate by smelling, seeing and lastly hearing. Dogs also have a universal sense which humans do not have, where they can feel the energy (emotions) of the other beings around them.
The statistics below will vary slightly with different types of breeds, for example a sight hound may have slightly better vision and a coonhound type of dog may have a slightly better sense of smell than other types. Let’s take a look at each of a dog’s senses. The Nose A dog interprets the world predominantly by smell, whereas a human interprets it by sight. When dogs smell something they are not just registering a smell, they get an entire story. A dog can both sniff and breathe. The Eyes. Dogs' Dazzling Sense of Smell. Inquiry: AN OCCASIONAL COLUMN By Peter Tyson Posted 10.04.12 NOVA scienceNOW What lies behind their exceptional gift of sniff? They haven't got no noses, The fallen sons of Eve; Even the smell of roses Is not what they supposes; But more than mind discloses And more than men believe. —from "The Song of the Quoodle," G.K. Chesterton My dog Jones used to do the most curious thing whenever my friend Burk visited my house. Your average dog's nose is tens of thousands of times as sensitive to odors as yours.
Jones, a greyhound-black lab mix who, bless his big heart, passed on at age 15 a few years ago, never did that with any other visitor. Why? Olympic sniffers Dogs' sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude—it's 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute, scientists say. Figure 1: When a dog breathes in, the air separates into distinct paths, one (red) flowing into the olfactory area and the other (blue) passing through the pharynx (black) to the lungs. A nose for odors Exit strategy.