What Your Dog's Nose Brings To The Hike

Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS
USDA NRCS
Credit: Joe Martin/USFWS
Joe Martin/USFWS
Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS
USDA NRCS
     In the time it takes you to don your pack and find the trailhead, your dog already knows whether another family has hit the trail before you, and whether they packed beef jerky for lunch. A half a mile in, she's familiar with several of the locals, and has a pretty good idea of the nature of last evening's night life. 
     Your dog's exceptional nose, ears, and eyes are designed to work at peak efficiency in a wilderness setting. Animal tracks, a pile of scat, nibbled leaves, or depressions in the groundcover abound. Look sharp, and your four-legged trail guide will point you to these and other numerous signs of life along the trail. Together, you can turn the average hike into a wildlife adventure. 
Deer scat
Photo courtesy of morguefile.com
www.morguefile.com
Steve Thompson/ USFWS
Steve Thompson/ USFWS
A dog's 'nares.'
The side slits in a dog's nose, the 'nares,' channel exhaled air in a way that swirls even more scent molecules back in with the next sniff.
A dog's sense of smell is thought to be as much as 10,000 times more powerful than our own. Trained scent dogs can potentially discriminate as many as 1,000,000 unique odors, and even detect familiar scents masked by the fog of an angry skunk.

20 Easy Questions For The Hiking Dog


Animal, vegetable, or mineral?
Resident or passer-by?
Familiar or foreign?
Male or female?
Dominant or submissive?
Healthy or ill?
Headed this way or that?
One or many?
Friend or foe?
What was for dinner?
Picture
Meet some very cool dogs who use their super sniffers on the job! Click the paw above!


 
June / July, 2011         HikingWithDogs.net
Brought To You by The Trail Hound's Handbook, Your Family Guide To Hiking With Dogs