Dog Nose Facts

Does a Dry Nose Mean my Dog is Sick?

Maybe, but not necessarily. Your pet’s nose may be dry because of dehydration or fever or possibly because he is not licking his nose as much as usual. If your pet’s nose is dry, but otherwise looks normal, and your pet is active and eating and drinking normally, then there is no need to worry. If your pet is acting sick in any way or his nose looks crusty, has sores, or just doesn’t look normal, then contact us.

Why is my dog always sniffing?

Does your dog annoy you when you are out on a walk by constantly sniffing? That sniffing is to your dog like getting up to date news on the Internet for you. It tells him who has been there, how long ago, and which way they went. It also causes him to urinate small amounts everywhere so he can let other dogs know he has been there.

How do they smell so well?

Your dog’s nose can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than your nose. Three things make that happen.

1. Inside your dog’s nose, there are about 300 million smell receptors, compared to our measly 6 million.
2. Your dog’s brain area that detects smell is 40 times bigger than yours.
3. Your dog’s nose separates air into air for breathing and air for sniffing via that small fold that you can see on the inside of each nostril.

Different dogs can even smell better than the average dog. Bloodhounds, basset hounds, and beagles are breeds with longer snouts, thus improving their sense of smell.        

Nose Prints:

One other fascinating nose fact is your dog’s nose print is as unique to him as your fingerprint is to you. So next time one of your dogs does something naughty like tear something up or chew on the furniture, take nose prints and see who it really is.