Interesting Facts: How the Sense of Olfaction Works in Dogs
It is believed that under ideal conditions, dogs can smell scents up to 20 kilometers away.
However, this indicator strongly depends on both the smell itself and environmental conditions, such as wind.
How does a dog's sense of smell work
In general, the sense of smell of a dog and a person works according to the same scheme.
The same receptors located in the nasal cavity work, capture molecules of the substance and transmit information to the brain, where it is already analyzed.
It’s just that dogs have significantly more of these receptors than humans.
Special receptors located deep in the nasal cavity capture molecules of various substances in the air and form odor sensations, transmitting them to the brain.
These receptors form the olfactory epithelium, and in dogs its area is 250-400 square meters.
Dogs were trained to distinguish biological fluids infected with SARS-CoV-2 from uninfected ones.
The sensitivity of detection was 83 percent and the specificity was 96 percent, according to a paper published in BMC Infectious Diseases.
