Some of you know I traveled to Italy and Turkey for three weeks. I missed all my family and friends. I missed Sydney’s panting smile and his wiggling greeting.
When at last I returned, our dog gave me a look that seemed to say, “Wait a minute! I forgot who you are.” Then he raised his muzzle and sniffed. I believed I saw a tiny lightbulb go on in his head. He perked up, trotted over and said with his licks, “Good. There you are. You taste interesting, what’s that mixed with the jet fuel and perfume?”

Dogs eyesight maybe weaker than ours in daylight, but their noses are millions of times more powerful, splitting smells into messages, facts and mystery.

Remember, part of a daily walk with your dog is all about his or her nose. To be inside all day maybe like wearing a blind fold for us. So go outside and make it a smelly great time for your best dog.
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nice blog dear..thanks a lot for sharing 🙂
An interesting fact I learned is that dogs cannot see very well what is directly in front of their noses, say 8-10 inches away. But they have a great ability to pick up a moving object in their peripheral vision farther away. It helps me understand why sometimes I can see a stinky object right in front of Foxy, but he finds it by sniffing around the area until he gets to the right spot.
I go home each summer for a month, which is such an emotional thing for all of us (separation anxiety goes both ways here at the ranch!) and when I get back all the dogs just freeze and stare.. and then GO MENTAL… haha, so much sniffing, snorting, nibbling and dashing around. There is nothing quite like a doggy home coming 🙂
Hello, thanks for reading. Did you read my first dogs of Italy? Here is the link http://wp.me/p1dIM5-17H.
Read several of your posts, and I so enjoyed your Bhaktapur photograph journal I am sharing the link with my readers. http://talkingexperience.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/bhaktapur-a-city-of-festivals-and-celebrations/
Thanks for your reply to my post. Yes, our dog does the same. When we play hide the treats and he must sniff them out, he often walks right by what is in front of his noes. Funny. When I hold still in hide and seek, he does not see me until I move or he smells me.
Interesting. Dogs have good eyesight, at least eyesight better than ours. So I wonder if smells are better at stimulating their memories.
In comparison to what Foxy said about his dogs not being able to see what is right in front of them, when my dogs play the ‘find it’ game, they search with their eyes before they search with their noses. I read an article recently about bomb sniffing dogs and it seems the dog has to be very close to the bomb before he can smell it. There are so many other distracting smells around that they can’t sort through them all. Think about bloodhounds too. They literally have to put their noses onto the ground in order to follow a trail. So maybe the eyes of a dog are great at seeing things from a distance while their noses are great at distinguishing things up close.
I’ve been thinking about what you wrote. You have inspired a new post. Perhaps two or three on the science of what dogs see and some Vet eye health tips. Thanks for writing. See you soon.