It is important for all dogs to engage their sense of smell. A dog’s sense of smell is the strongest of their senses.

Dogs possess 125-300 million scent receptors in their brain. Humans only have around 5 million scent receptors. The area of a dog’s brain that controls scent is 40 times larger than in a human. So, a dog’s sense of smell is between 10,000-100,000 times better than a human’s sense of smell. A dog’s nose is also designed much differently than a human nose. They even have an extra organ called the Vomeronasal organ that helps them smell hormones/pheromones.

Since dogs have such a well-developed sense of smell, it is important that we engage it and do not ignore its importance. In this forty-five minute long class we will focus on enrichment games and basic scent work.

Remember the goal is to have fun!

If you have any questions about today’s class please feel free to contact the AWA behavior team at [email protected]