Canines Smell The World!

Or at least their part of it. And as it turns out, their sense of smell has direct connections to other familiar doggie traits—even tail wagging.

But before we get into the details...does this picture make my nose look big?

Anyway, this recent New York Times interview with Alexandra Horowitz, author of "Inside A Dog" explains just how much different a dog's sniffer is than our own, and exactly why our four-legged friends would enjoy "nose work" classes. Ms. Horowitz has a new book, "Being A Dog: Following the Dog Into A World of Smell", where she explains " the elegant engineering of the dog's olfactory system and how familiar canine behaviors — licking, sneezing, tail wagging — have associations with smell."

What surprised Parental Unit is that tail wagging is associated with smell via the dogs' anal glands: "dog's wag, basically dispensing their personal odors from their rumps," says Horowitz. Hmmm, the light's finally coming on for Parental Unit about all that canine butt sniffing I engage in...

Have any of our readers enrolled their dogs in nose work classes? Let us know!

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