Holiday Smells: The Nose Knows

The aromatic heralds of the holiday season are coming to your dog's home soon; roasted chestnuts, eggnog lattes, cranberry sauce, hot pumpkin-spice pie, gingerbread cookies and turkey, scented candles, and pine trees. Yum!

How dogs 'see' the world

Pet parents often believe dogs can learn to see things from the human point of view. However, although dogs are extraordinarily teachable and adaptable they are also utterly unique. Understanding how your dog perceives the world can deeper your relationship. Dogs live in a subterranean world full of information we are entirely unaware of — a world where the nose leads.

Puppies are born with a fully functioning sense of smell. Dogs get most of their information about the world from sniffing a continuous stream of scents that travel directly to the brain. The dog brain is dominated by olfactory structures larger than the area of the brain devoted to vision in humans. Their sense of smell is anywhere from 100,000 to 100,000,000 times greater than a human’s! Dogs help detect cancer, locate disaster victims, find illegal drugs and find other lost pets. The intensity of their sniffing experiences is beyond our imagination. Be careful not to subject your dog to powerful scents that may be mild to us but overwhelming to your dogs, such as citronella collars, cleaning products, and air fresheners.

A canine-safe holiday treat

If you're cooking a turkey dinner this holiday, rest assured your dog can easily identify each ingredient individually in your carefully executed recipe. Your dog is your most ardent admirer. Expecting your dog to ignore, not become excited, or worst of all, be left out of the festivities just isn't fair! Merricks® Thanksgiving and Holiday/Christmas Day Dinners are big favorites. Or why not cook up a special canine-safe plate for your furry member of the family and celebrate together? Or go all-out with a private cooking lesson for you and your dog. Bon Appetit!