Dogs’ heightened senses have saved countless human lives by detecting bombs, diseases, and narcotics.
These wonderful creatures constantly surprise us with their incredible intelligence and intuition. But what are the strongest dog’s senses?
Below, we’ll guide you through the various dog senses and explain which sense is superior.
Smell
There’s no denying a dog’s strongest sense is its sense of smell.
A dog’s olfactory lobe, the part of the brain dedicated to understanding smells, is more than 40 times bigger than ours!
Dogs smell in layers, enabling them to isolate a scent that has been masked by other odors. For this reason, dogs are put to work detecting scents that would otherwise go unnoticed.
In the medical field, dogs have been proven to sniff out diseases like diabetes and cancer with 80-100% accuracy!
Detection dogs are trained to sniff out certain smells, like drugs, explosives, people, or wildlife.
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Hearing
A dog’s second strongest sense is their incredible hearing. Dogs can hear sounds four times further away than the human ear can detect!
They can hear at ultrasound range, detecting pitches that humans are unable to discern.
Dogs’ ears have 18 muscles—three times as many as humans! This allows them to swivel their ears in many directions, like little satellites searching for a signal.
This helps them to pinpoint and amplify sounds. In a large crowd, your dog can easily isolate and track your voice.
Sight
In general, dogs don’t have very good eyesight.
They can’t see as many colors as we can and lack good depth perception. Perfect human vision is considered to be 20:20, whereas most dogs can only see 20:80.
Don’t feel too bad for them, though. Dogs are very good at detecting movement and their night vision is far superior to ours.
Dogs’ pupils are larger than ours, allowing more light in. Their eyes also have a sneaky reflective layer that acts in the same way as night vision goggles. This layer, called the tapetum, is what makes animal’s eyes look like they’re glowing in the dark.
Touch
Touch is the first sense a dog develops after birth and is an important part of socialization with other dogs and humans.
The muzzle is the most sensitive part of a dog’s body, as this is where the whiskers are. Whiskers are more than just hairs. They detect changes in air currents, transmitting information back to the dog about different objects or movements.
The least sensitive area of a dog is the back of their necks. Mother dogs’ latch onto this soft skin when carrying puppies around.
Taste
Taste is arguably a dog’s weakest sense. As many dog owners know, your pooch will eat just about anything!
Humans have about 9,000 taste buds. Dogs have a meager 1,700 taste buds.
A canine’s sense of taste is largely influenced by their advanced sense of smell. If your dog is a picky eater, try enticing them with more aromatic foods.
The Strongest Dog’s Senses Are Smell and Hearing
As you’ve learned above, your dog won’t become a food connoisseur any time soon, but you might be able to train him to find your lost car keys instead!
Now that you’re aware that smell and hearing are the strongest dog’s senses, you can better understand your furry friend’s behavior.
If you enjoyed this article, read through our other posts for more fascinating information!
