Messages carried on the air
We took a long walk with our dog the other night, a convenient
way to enjoy a balmy evening, get some exercise and to pick up a
new calculator without starting the car.
Messages carried on the air
We took a long walk with our dog the other night, a convenient way to enjoy a balmy evening, get some exercise and to pick up a new calculator without starting the car.
As we strolled down Sunset Drive, Sparky walked at heel – until he came to a patch of lawn. Then he would dart back and forth, face held close to the ground. He was not just sniffing, but gulping in the scents that were hidden in each patch of grass.
It got us to talking about the vast differences between how we sense the world around us and how our companion animals do.
It’s been said that humans gather about 90 percent of their sensory information through their eyes.
Of course, we listen – sometimes, but we are very visual creatures. There are exceptions, and I would maintain that one that links us most closely to our dogs and cats is the powerful link to memories that scents carry.
From time to time a stranger will pass and I am blessed with a powerful memory of my late mother, a memory carried on the scent of the same perfume she always wore.
A walk around town carries with it the scent of meals, of bread baking, of tortillas on the comal. All of them evoke memories.
For most people who grew up here, there are a host of smells that link us to the past. Anyone who has smelled the scent of dozens of trays of fresh-cut apricots awaiting the drying yard will be brought back to the orchard by the barest whiff.
Dogs gather information through their noses in ways we cannot imagine.
Leave a pair of dirty socks laying around, and your dog is likely to collect them, the better to imagine that you’re near.
Looking down at the end of the leash, I imagine how different the world must seem to Sparky. Standing on six-inch legs, full of Jack Russell terrier bravado, Sparky lives close to the earth, sucking up scents along the way.
Dogs’ long snouts contain sinuses very different from our own. The sinus cavities are corrugated to give them more surface area than ours. Sensory cells line every surface. Scents linger in the air or cling to surfaces – the reason every fire hydrant seems so fascinating to nearly every dog.
While I’m very fond of my eyesight, and grateful for the modern ministrations of the optometrist, an acute sense of smell carries some advantages of its own. Think about that fire hydrant. Chances are, your dog knows more about other dogs that may have paused there over the last few days than you could ever sense with your eyes. Your dog will know if that cute little Pomeranian from down the street paused two days ago.
Scent can be used for navigation in the manner that tracking dogs follow a trail. Street noise does not mask scent, and neither does darkness. Scent is a constant, and a source of constant wonder.
