What the Nose Knows

The New York Times ^ | January 21, 2006

[presidio9]

How well do you know your dog? The answer is, not nearly as well as your dog knows you. Given the right incentives, humans can certainly be perceptive enough. But most dog lovers discover, sooner or later, that dogs have an alertness to the behavioral signs of their owners that humans rarely equal. And that's nothing. Scientists have recently discovered that dogs can distinguish, with almost unerring accuracy, between breath samples from people with lung cancer and from people without. The dogs have to be trained to do it, of course. But the fact that they can do it at all is remarkable. There aren't enough biscuits in the world to teach a human to smell at such an extraordinary level of subtlety.

This news will give pause to almost anyone who lives with a dog. Just what a dog "knows" is hard to say, because the human idea of "knowing" is so closely related to the ability to express what you know. Even trained cancer-sniffing dogs express their knowledge - their distinction between samples - only by sitting or not sitting. But this is what always happens. We tend to forget the extraordinary powers of the animals we live with simply because we live with them. We tend to humanize them, which means, if nothing else, that we tend to reduce them - in terms of their sensory powers - to our muddling level. We can barely take in the fact that when a dog comes up and sniffs us, it is really giving us a nasal M.R.I.

[presidio9]

PING

[Joe 6-pack]

A Schutzhund trainer I once knew told me that for comparison, the average human has approximately five million scent receptor cells over app. 1 sq. inch of nasal tissue.

The average shepherd has app. 150 million cells located on app. 6 square inches...no wonder they're noses are just a little better than ours...

[JoeGar]

Scientists have recently discovered that dogs can distinguish, with almost unerring accuracy, between breath samples from people with lung cancer and from people without.

This must be a recent discovery for the New York Times only. I remember seeing a TV show years ago about using dogs to sniff for skin cancer and TB.

[strider44]

I don't know how many times I've said to my wife: "A dog will save your life."

She's a cat lover (but also really likes dogs) and I'm a dog lover all the way. We have a 3-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. We love that dog. I'm deployed in Iraq right now, and I feel secure knowing that dog (Rocky) is protecting my pregnant wife and 13-month-old son. You can't say that about a cat.

[jospehm20]

Hi, I feel the same way bout my 2 Shepherds. I am in Baghdad, where are you?

[njpa]

thank you sir

[strider44]

UH-60 pilot, operate mostly in Southern Iraq.

[jospehm20]

I am a contractor at the embassy. My last job, I traveled a lot in Iraq, I have been to Talil a few times, it is desolate down there. Stay Safe.

[alwaysconservative]

I think that, like other senses, we've been trained by society to ignore certain sensory clues, so what sense perception we do have has been made subordinate to other clues. My dog relies heavily on smell, and I am trying to learn to be more alert in this area as well.

[strider44]

Thanks man. We wear the armor and keep the door guns hot. Keep your eyes open and stay safe too.