People have long noticed and reveered dogs for their incredible sense of smell. Despite working with dogs and their sense of smell for centuries, we actually still haven’t fully appreciated just how keen a dog’s sense of smell.

Bee Bacteria

Bees are dying by the millions, and scientists are still puzzling out why. Pesticides, global warming, and many other factors have been called out as possible reasons, but one other is a bacteria called Foulbrood that kills entire hives of bees.

Bees can be saved through early detection and treatment of the bacteria, but that means checking bees frequently for signs of disease. A human beekeeper can only inspect 50 hives a day, but a dog can detect the bacteria with just one sniff. A trained dog can inspect 100 hives per hour, making them an ideal candidate for saving our bees.

Cancer

The earlier cancer can be detected, the better off the patient’s chances are. Unfortunately, it’s not always obvious when cancer is in its initial stages. Dogs can detect certain types of cancer such as lung cancer or breast cancer, simply by smelling the person’s breath.

Cancer detecting dogs are still in their early stages of use, but one study looking at dogs trained to detect pancreatic cancer found dogs were able to detect cancer accurately 98% of the time.

Dogs haven’t been trained for a large variety of cancers yet, but so far they have held up well to being able to detect this serious disease in a great many different cancers.

Piracy

In places such as Malaysia, pirated DVDs are a serious problem. Bootlegged DVDs are now that much harder to sneak out of the country however, thanks to a pair of dogs trained to sniff for DVDs. The dogs are trained to search for the smell of polycarbonates, or the plastic layer making up the surface of DVDs.

The dogs have successfully scented out millions of dollars in pirated software, and are sent to piracy hotspots around the world to help stop piracy cold.

You...from 11 miles away

While it’s no surprise dogs know you and your scent, it may surprise you to learn just how staggeringly far your dog can be from you and still pick up your scent. A dog can detect your location from as far as 11 miles away. In one notable incident, a labrador was able to pick up the scent of and find his way back to a woman who had rescued him just days before.

She’d never planned to keep him permanently, and had only adopted him to keep him safe until she could find an appropriate owner. He followed her scent back across town, traveling over 11 miles to do so.

A dog’s sense of smell is nothing short of amazing. They can detect very small amounts of scent in the air, and can even detect scents buried 40 feet beneath the ground. While we may never know for sure just how powerful a dog’s sense of smell really is, we know that dogs can detect a lot, and are truly amazing.

https://mind-blowingfacts.com/dogs-smell/

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/10-amazing-things-dogs-can-sense.htm