Sense of Smell

[China Doll]

This has annoyed me for quite some time and I keep forgetting to ask... Dogs (and many other animals) are known for their very keen sense of smell, far superior to humans. So why is it that when there is a particularly bad smell (poo, other dogs bottys, just general yucky things) does it not seem to bother them at all?

Cheers!
China

[wolf63]

They find revolting smells to be a beautiful aroma.

I find the smell of wet dog a non-beautiful aroma.

[seadogg]

You'd have to be one to understand I guess.

[China Doll]

I was sort of hoping there was a sciencey type answer.

[woofgang]

the sciency type answer is that we have a lot of emotional baggage attached to smells which is some of the reason (not all) that we find them nice or nasty. Dogs don't have the emotional baggage, their classification is different...edible/not, mateable/not, of my pack/not and so on. Dogs do find some smells unpleasant but they base it soley on the smell, not what the smell conveys unless they have learned a reaction, eg to the disinfectant used in the vet's waiting room. Even then I would guess that they don't actually dislike the smell but dislike what the smell means to them.
This is also part of the reason why dear little kiddies are happy to fingerpaint with the contents of a nappy....they don't yet have the "yuck" connotation installed

[seadogg]

Also our noses have evolved to warn us of potentially ill making things like rotten food. Dogs don't seem to be affected to the same extent by such nasty stuff. My dog will happily eat foul and rotten things on walks (if he can get away with it) and seems fine afterwards.

[China Doll]

Thanks woofgang, I hadn't looked at it that way before! Explains a lot.

[lankeela]

That also explains why dogs can be trained to sniff out drugs, weapons, money, and even things like cancerous growths in people or impending medical emergencies like epileptic fits (which give off a chemical reaction). They are rewarded for a given response and they then use the smell as a way of getting the reward.