# Weak Sense of Smell?



## BruinsFan (Jul 31, 2010)

We just picked up our 10 week-old puppy from the shelter and I'm a little concerned about her sense of smell.

We're in the process of teaching her to come when she hears her name. We were standing 10 feet apart and would alternate holding a treat in our hands while calling her name. 

When we pull out a treat before calling her name, she doesn't run over, or sense the treat. Once we start calling her name / praising her, we get her attention, and when she gets there, she smells the treat and gobbles it up.

We tried the same experiment with being only 5 feet apart, and she would run over as soon as the treat was out. Could she not smell it from 10 feet away?

She also adapted to the crate very fast. She takes naps in her bed in the crate, she makes sure to keep all of her toys in there, and she doesn't have a problem with us closing the door. She seems like the perfect first-dog. (Just to clarify, she is very active when we play in the house and in our yard and she loves to be held). Long story short, she enjoys her crate. 

When I was ready to feed her for the 2nd time today, I decided to test her smells a little further. She was outside of her crate (but in the same room). I sprinkled some kibble into her crate starting from just outside the crate door to the back of her bed.

She ran over and ate everything that was outside the crate and right around the door inside it. However, she didn't sense that there was more on her bed. I came around to the crate door, reached in grabbed some, and showed her that there more back there. She jolted inside and ate the remainder of what was in the crate. 

Is this something to be concerned about? We've had her for less than 12 hours, and so far, she's been completely awesome.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

Different dogs have differently acute olfactory senses. A Bloodhound and an English Bulldog probably experience the world in vastly different ways. I'd bet that any normally healthy dog has a better sense of smell than we humans. Different dogs, with similarly acute senses, will be attracted to different things. Some dogs are not particularly attracted to food, or only certain foods.

Your dog may be more interested in the humans than in the offered food.


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## BruinsFan (Jul 31, 2010)

Should we try different treat products to get a sense of what works?

Are there any other tests I can do to determine if it's a smelling problem or only in the realm of food?

Edit: If it helps, they think she's a Hound Terrier.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

Try liver, cheese, and other smelly things. Ultimately, barring an obvious deficiency, the only way to test a dog's sense of smell is with training. Unless a dog is trained to find/alert to a particular item, there's not much way to tell if he failed to detect it or just isn't interested in it.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

How old is she? Why do you think she should smell what you have from five feet away? You don't really want her coming because she "smells" what you have. You want her to come when you call her, then reward her with a treat and a "good dog".

Just noticed that she is only ten weeks old. Quite likely at that age she does not have much of a sense of smell yet.


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## BruinsFan (Jul 31, 2010)

Marsh Muppet said:


> Try liver, cheese, and other smelly things. Ultimately, barring an obvious deficiency, the only way to test a dog's sense of smell is with training. Unless a dog is trained to find/alert to a particular item, there's not much way to tell if he failed to detect it or just isn't interested in it.


That's a great point, I didn't think of it that way.



Kyllobernese said:


> How old is she? Why do you think she should smell what you have from five feet away? You don't really want her coming because she "smells" what you have. You want her to come when you call her, then reward her with a treat and a "good dog".
> 
> Just noticed that she is only ten weeks old. Quite likely at that age she does not have much of a sense of smell yet.


I completely agree, I don't want her to run over when she smells it. I just found it weird that it wasn't the natural reaction.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

She may also be just a BIT overwhelmed. You've had her less than a day. Trying to attempt training of any kind is bound to be a bit of work because she's in an unfamiliar area, with unfamiliar people and her senses are likely a bit all over the place. I would NOT be worrying about deficits at this point and let her settle in. Give her a couple of days before working on training issues, get her used to the routine of the house, work only on crate training and house training and let her get the lay of the land. 

You are likely putting a bit more pressure on her right now than what she can handle. The senses often shut down under stress. It's also important to realize that as a young pup not all of her senses are mature...my dog's prey drive didn't kick in until she was seven months old and then BOOM it was all squirrels all the time.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Why do you think she should be able to smell it from 10 feet away? this seems like a strange distance to choose to say her smell is bad, are dogs supposed to be able to smell treats from 10 feet away, is there a study done on it? I am pretty sure my dogs can't smell treats from 10 feet away, thats why they stick their nose on the ground to pick up a scent. Dogs don't smell things stronger than we do, they simply can smell more than we can (if that makes sence) and have better processors to understand the scent.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

Keechak said:


> Dogs don't smell things stronger than we do, they simply can smell more than we can (if that makes sence) and have better processors to understand the scent.


Akshully...dogs have at least 4X as many olfactory receptors as humans and the olfactory center of their brains are significantly larger in relation to other functions. Scenting is what they are built for. Psychologist Alexandra Horowitz has found dogs can detect the equivalent of a spoonful of sugar dissolved in two Olympic pools' worth of water. Other studies have shown they can detect ridiculously small quantities of dissolved salts.

Even after he got really old, my Rottie would wake from a sound sleep, from another room, if I pulled a head of finocchio out of the fridge. It was always his favorite treat (go figure) and he slept pretty damned soundly in his dotage.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Marsh Muppet said:


> Akshully...dogs have at least 4X as many olfactory receptors as humans and the olfactory center of their brains are significantly larger in relation to other functions. Scenting is what they are built for. Psychologist Alexandra Horowitz has found dogs can detect the equivalent of a spoonful of sugar dissolved in two Olympic pools' worth of water. Other studies have shown they can detect ridiculously small quantities of dissolved salts.


Yep like I said they can smell more and have better brain processors for it, you basically just elaboratly agreed with me.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

Keechak said:


> Yep like I said they can smell more and have better brain processors for it, you basically just elaboratly agreed with me.


I focused on the second part of your statement, and the first part whistled through the whole in my head without even slowing down. Still, I'd say they scent more things, more intensely, and can discriminate odors far better than we can. A dog sniffing a popular fence post is probably like us reading the daily newspaper.


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## BruinsFan (Jul 31, 2010)

Thanks for the replies, it makes sense since she isn't fully developed yet.


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