Comments on: Your Dogs Sense Of Smell – Just How Good Is It

By: peter reddick

peter reddick — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 12:27:30 +0000

out in thbe woods today my lab was sniffing in the air whan he charged about 20yds dug in the leaves and came up with a rubber ball is there something in the ball that gives out a strong scent

By: john ryder

john ryder — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 12:01:57 +0000

In reply to Nikita Merchant. HE or she is pretty young scent training with bird feather works best simple treats are a little different due to the smell is so common and he smells it daily they might be actuarily bored i have some dogs who are just slow to figure things out as field work goes they seem to like best actually like to hunt birds pheasant grouse and ducks retrieves are there jam

By: Terry Troutman

Terry Troutman — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 17:27:32 +0000

Gabbi my Lab is an 18 month old pup and she always wants to please. I have her trained in deer/game recovery as well as shed antler finding and she is very good at separating the 2 scents. I watch her body actions to know exactly when she is on track or not. She puts so much into the scents, that often times after finding the treasure, it’s like she has been running for 10 miles. Totally fascinating to watch her work and have fun all at the same time.

By: Dorothy Nagel

Dorothy Nagel — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 16:57:09 +0000

I have 2 incredible things going on with our 13 month old Black Lab-Leia began pushing me out of bed when she was 9 months old and forcing me to go downstairs with her-I would then have a terrible headache-do a finger stick and find out my Glucose had dangerously dropped-she does this everytime it happens so yes she can smell Diabetes changes in Glucose. I also had cancer surgery 10 months ago-in the past 2 months she has been laying on my chest and pawing me in the same spot and breathing hot breath on the spot-went for my 6 month wellness CAT and PET scan and found out I have recurrence lung cancer way down in the lung at that exact spot…Just amazing Huh ??

By: James

James — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 22:56:40 +0000

I rescued Zeus my Yellow 2 year old lab from A local shelter about 6 months ago. I quickly came to discover he has NO sense of smell and his eye sight is Hopefully typical. I throw a ball of any color and as long as he can see its movement he will retrieve it with great gusto. However once the ball stops moving it is lost to him. Even if it is just a few feet away. I have taught him the command search and once given he starts sniffing in an ever widening circles with no apparent clue as to where the ball is. Once the ball is directly in front of him he will see it and bring it to me. I try to get him to use his nose by taking treats and throwing them around the yard. Unless I point to them he never finds them. I watch him put his nose on them but not recognize them. He has become very trusting in me. I have to be careful. I was cracking an egg one day for breakfast and the shell fell on the floor. He took the shell and crunched down on it and spit it out. Same with potato peals. Hopefully that means his taste is working. More proof is if he is asleep and I am cooking and the house smells of food, he does not wake up to the smell. Once he sees me in the kitchen he realizes what I am doing and comes in and wants what every I am cooking. He knows Daddy makes good stuff. My question is this. Is there a way to help him develop his smell? And how common is this?

By: Nikita Merchant

Nikita Merchant — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 18:01:35 +0000

I have a one year old lab – Pesto 🙂

While I know he can smell (he definitely can sniff the treat out of my hand), he tends to use and possibly trust his eyes more than his nose. For instance, there have been so many times when I hid the treat and his nose was on the treat, but he didn’t realise and grabbed only when he saw it, or when I hid in the house- he was right next to me but didn’t realise it till he saw me.

Is there anything I could do to strengthen his sense of smell?

By: suzy

suzy — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 19:20:46 +0000

My chocolate lab loves showing off his scent skills. our children put him in another room and hide treats all round the house, bring him in and tell him “find the treats”… being a lab, he doesn’t take long. Another trick is to show him both your closed hands and ask him which hand the treat is in and he chooses by putting a paw on the hand… always correctly. Finally, my trick is to throw a small treat into bushes when we are out walking and he will sniff it out.

By: Pippa

Pippa — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 09:08:58 +0000

In reply to DebiHull. Wow, what a clever dog!

By: Roger Forrest

Roger Forrest — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 08:09:45 +0000

In reply to stephen mackin. Surprisingly, for a carnivore Benson is passionate about bananas which I suspect has something to do with the delicate aroma? Must see how he responds to the fruit of the durian! Roger

By: DebiHull

DebiHull — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 05:21:51 +0000

My black Lab started waking me up all the time during the night. I was upset with her till I found out I had sleep apnea…she was waking me when I stopped breathing!!