Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications

Olfaction in dogs is crucial for gathering important information about the environment, recognizing individuals, making decisions, and learning. It is far more specialized and sensitive than humans’ sense of smell. Using the strength of dogs’ sense of smell, humans work with dogs for the recognition...

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Main Authors: Agata Kokocińska-Kusiak, Martyna Woszczyło, Mikołaj Zybala, Julia Maciocha, Katarzyna Barłowska, Michał Dzięcioł
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
Series:Animals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/8/2463
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spelling doaj-e00722f5ffe24ea0b2e7b50a2a37525c2021-08-26T13:27:43ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-08-01112463246310.3390/ani11082463Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical ApplicationsAgata Kokocińska-Kusiak0Martyna Woszczyło1Mikołaj Zybala2Julia Maciocha3Katarzyna Barłowska4Michał Dzięcioł5Institute of Animal Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, ul. Ciszewskiego 8, 02-786 Warszawa, PolandDepartment of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Plac Grunwaldzki 49, 50-366 Wrocław, PolandInstitute of Biological Sciences, Doctoral School, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, ul. Konarskiego 2, 08-110 Siedlce, PolandInstitute of Animal Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, ul. Ciszewskiego 8, 02-786 Warszawa, PolandDepartment of Biotechnology and Nutrigenomics, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, 05-552 Magdalenka, PolandDepartment of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Plac Grunwaldzki 49, 50-366 Wrocław, PolandOlfaction in dogs is crucial for gathering important information about the environment, recognizing individuals, making decisions, and learning. It is far more specialized and sensitive than humans’ sense of smell. Using the strength of dogs’ sense of smell, humans work with dogs for the recognition of different odors, with a precision far exceeding the analytical capabilities of most modern instruments. Due to their extremely sensitive sense of smell, dogs could be used as modern, super-sensitive mobile area scanners, detecting specific chemical signals in real time in various environments outside the laboratory, and then tracking the odor of dynamic targets to their source, also in crowded places. Recent studies show that dogs can detect not only specific scents of drugs or explosives, but also changes in emotions as well as in human cell metabolism during various illnesses, including COVID-19 infection. Here, we provide an overview of canine olfaction, discussing aspects connected with anatomy, physiology, behavioral aspects of sniffing, and factors influencing the olfactory abilities of the domestic dog (<i>Canis familiaris</i>).https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/8/2463dogsolfactionbehaviorchemical communicationdisease detectionCOVID-19
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Agata Kokocińska-Kusiak
Martyna Woszczyło
Mikołaj Zybala
Julia Maciocha
Katarzyna Barłowska
Michał Dzięcioł
spellingShingle Agata Kokocińska-Kusiak
Martyna Woszczyło
Mikołaj Zybala
Julia Maciocha
Katarzyna Barłowska
Michał Dzięcioł
Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
Animals
dogs
olfaction
behavior
chemical communication
disease detection
COVID-19
author_facet Agata Kokocińska-Kusiak
Martyna Woszczyło
Mikołaj Zybala
Julia Maciocha
Katarzyna Barłowska
Michał Dzięcioł
author_sort Agata Kokocińska-Kusiak
title Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
title_short Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
title_full Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
title_fullStr Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
title_full_unstemmed Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications
title_sort canine olfaction: physiology, behavior, and possibilities for practical applications
publisher MDPI AG
series Animals
issn 2076-2615
publishDate 2021-08-01
description Olfaction in dogs is crucial for gathering important information about the environment, recognizing individuals, making decisions, and learning. It is far more specialized and sensitive than humans’ sense of smell. Using the strength of dogs’ sense of smell, humans work with dogs for the recognition of different odors, with a precision far exceeding the analytical capabilities of most modern instruments. Due to their extremely sensitive sense of smell, dogs could be used as modern, super-sensitive mobile area scanners, detecting specific chemical signals in real time in various environments outside the laboratory, and then tracking the odor of dynamic targets to their source, also in crowded places. Recent studies show that dogs can detect not only specific scents of drugs or explosives, but also changes in emotions as well as in human cell metabolism during various illnesses, including COVID-19 infection. Here, we provide an overview of canine olfaction, discussing aspects connected with anatomy, physiology, behavioral aspects of sniffing, and factors influencing the olfactory abilities of the domestic dog (<i>Canis familiaris</i>).
topic dogs
olfaction
behavior
chemical communication
disease detection
COVID-19
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/8/2463
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