Tips to Better Understand a Dog’s Senses

The house is quiet, and you don’t hear a sound outside, but your dog takes off running through the dog door, barking like mad. Your pup is less distracted when his nose is dry. You notice it isn’t the sight of the vacuum cleaner that creates anxiety as much as the sound of it. You wonder why the regular squirrel visitor is not afraid of your pups.

These facts and more can all be traced back to the fact that your dog has very different senses than you do. Dogs perceive the world in a much different way and, in many cases, seem to enjoy it far more than you do.

Puppy Senses

Puppies are genetically wired to seek out their mother and nothing more. From the time they are born, their eyes are closed and they can’t hear anything until they are about 3 weeks old. Yet they can sense the heat of their mother with their noses. In many ways, this helps them understand and interpret energy from a very young age so that some of the details that bother humans are not issues for pups.

Sir Sniffs a Lot

Your dog can constantly sniff without having allergies. Dogs don’t just identify things by their scent, they learn some important details about those things. You might smell a wet cat and wonder what that damp smell is, but your pup knows it’s a cat and may even know if that cat is in heat or has a medical issue.

Even the mucous on your dog’s nose serves a purpose. It captures scent particles that make it easier for your dog to perceive the world around him or her. Their brains may only be about 10% the size of a human’s, but the portion of their brains that processes smell is 40 times bigger than that of a human’s.

Sound of Silence

Even when the world is quiet for you, it isn’t for your pup. You have six muscles in your ears, but your pup has 18, allowing it to move its ears to better perceive and focus on sounds and even pitches you can’t hear. Ever wonder why dogs are afraid of vacuum cleaners? It isn’t the look of them or even the fact that they suck up small particles. The motor itself produces a high pitched sound that humans can’t hear, but dogs can.

Energy Perception

There are theories that all life was once able to perceive energies and communicate silently. In fact, it is thought that beings didn’t really have to formally communicate because their very presence said everything that needed to be said. Whether that is a historical fact or not, dogs perceive different types of energy. Some can even detect cancer, or seem to know when a person is “good” or “bad.”

This is also why different animals might be in a small area together while knowing that one won’t harm the other. It is possible that this could happen without a seemingly enhanced sense of smell or hearing, but things like stress and anxiety have your pup on alert, even through the dog door.