Deb D’Andrea, Nederland

It always amazes me that my girls know exactly when it is breakfast and dinner time, basically to the minute. I know they don’t read a clock as most of my clocks are not easily visible from their vantage point, but surely enough at every meal time they’ll round me up and let me know it’s time.

There is a theory that dogs have a sense of time through smell, through their olfactory senses. That as time moves forward, smells change to reflect that change in time. For instance, when you head off to work in the morning you leave your fresh scent behind with your dog.

Over the course of the day, your scent dissipates, and when it reaches a certain level, your dog knows it’s time for you to return home because each day you return home when your scent reaches that level. Thus, strength of smell can be an indicator for time passing.

A dog’s sense of smell is also being harnessed in several fields to help people, be it cancer or seizure detection, or various other forms of disease detection. Not only is their sense of smell helpful for humans from a medical perspective, but also for when it’s breakfast or dinner time! We are just learning about our beloved dogs and how intelligent they are through new dog cognitive research which is helping us to understand Man’s Best Friend more extensively.

Till next time! Deb D’Andrea, founder of 4TheLuvOfDogz, provides mobile Canine Massage, Canine Agility and Petz Nanny Services. Her home-made dog treats are sold at local stores, and 4TheLuvOfDogz K9Birthday Cakes are available direct. Deb Petz Nanny’s for dogs, cats, birds, fish, horses, etc. Contact Deb at 720-675-7078 orinfo@4theluvofdogz.com. Online: www.4theluvofdogz.com