Science+Fair+Literature+Review+EE

Maguire explains how a dog’s nose works. Dogs sense of smell is more sensitive then ours. One of the parts in the dog’s nose is 40 times larger then ours. When we smell something we just smell the scent of it, while dogs get the background story of that scent. For example, if you're cooking something, dogs can smell what ingredients you have used. Another example would be if a dog met a person, that dog can smell if that person is male or female, how old it is, etc. The nostrils of the dog allow it to sniff in any direction the dog pleases. That way the dog can follow the scent trails wherever it leads. Dogs rely on their scent of smell rather then their sense of sight. We on the other hand rely on our eyesight more then smell. The reason the dog relies on the sense of smell is by having 125 to 300 million scent glands while humans have about 5 million, which explains why we rely on sight more then our sense of smell. Without so many scent glands, dogs would not be able to save lives. Many reports have been reported about dogs smelling cancer in people’s body before the cancer gets worse. ( Maguire, Sharon) According to Maguire, she explains about how dogs can survive without sight, how sniffing and breathing are two different things, and more info on the dog’s sense of smell. When a dog sniffs a person, they can tell what they have eaten, if they are male or female, what dogs they have met, etc. Sniffing and breathing are two different things for dogs. When dogs breath, they separate the scents from the oxygen in two different air ways. When dogs breath, it's just for their lungs. But when they sniff, they can save the scent from when they exhale. Even blind dogs can find their way. How is this possible? Like my first source states, dogs rely on their nose rather then using their eyes to help them find their way. People wonder when dogs get their whiskers cut off, does it affect their sense of smell? No, it has been proven that it does not even bother them or their sense of smell. ( Maguire, Sharon) Tyson compares our sense of smell to a dog’s. Like what is stated in source two, dogs can separate their smells into distinct paths. The dog’s brain can analyze scents 40 times better then humans. When we breath, we breath into both airways, the dog, on the other hand, can take a piece of tissue and then the tissue can separate the air from the scent. That way, a little piece of the scent can be saved. Just some other examples of how well a dog’s sense of smell is, dogs have been tested to find floating whale scat from a mile away, even in choppy waters. Another, a drug-sniffing dog found a 35 pound plastic container that was packed with marijuana lodged in a gas tank with gasoline all over it. Many other stories have been reported all over. ( Tyson, Peter) Young and Martin talk about us and our vision and dogs and their smelling. Since we use our vision a lot more, we have to have a big space saved in our brain. Humans have a large area saved just for vision. Just like our main sense, dogs also have a large area saved just for their scents they have smelled. What also helps the dogs find a scent would be their ears. Dogs with long ears, especially, they can get a stronger sniff of the smell. They can do this by using their long ears to stir up the different smells in the ground. Also, the moist, leathery skin of the dog’s nose helps the dog find the air currents which are carrying the scent trail. ( Young, James K., and Martin, W. Phillip) Horowitz wrote a book called //Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know// by Alexander Horowitz. This book talks about everything about the dog’s sense of smell. Dogs will usually stick their noses deeper into the ground so that they can get a better whiff of the scent. When dogs sit down and are motionless, they really aren’t. When you look at the dog, you may think its motionless of the body except one part, the nostrils. They never stop moving no matter what. ( Horowitz, Alexandra)
 * Review of Literature: **

=** Works Cited **=

Horowitz, Alexandra. "Sniff." //Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know //. New York: Scribner, 2009. 67-88. Print.


 * This is a good site because it is written by an animal behaviorist.

Maguire, Sharon. "Understanding a Dog's Senses." //Understanding a Dog's Senses //. Dog Breed Info Center, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <[]>.


 * I know this website is true because it is written by a dog expert at a dog rescue center.

Maguire, Sharon. "Understanding a Dog's Senses." //Dog Facts//. Muddy Paws Canine Center, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <[]>.


 * This is a great source because it is written by an author whose information matches with other cites.

Tyson, Peter. "Dogs' Dazzling Sense of Smell." //PBS//. PBS, 02 Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <[]>.


 * This is a good site because it is written by a well known network.

Young, James K., and Philip W. Martin. "Marbach Road Animal Hospital." //Dog's Incredible Sense of Smell//. Marbach Road Animal Hospital, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <[]>.


 * This is a great source because it is written by two veterinarians.