12 March 2013

flatulence breakdown

I read once that dogs have a sense of smell anywhere from 10,000-100,000 times more sensitive than that of a human.  This allows them to not only smell much better than we do and to smell things we would never normally be able to smell, but to distinguish between smells much better than we do as well.  The example I remember was that of a chocolate chip cookie: we smell the chocolate chip cookie as a whole, dogs can smell the individual ingredients of the chocolate chip cookie - the flour, the sugar, the baking soda, and eggs all come out as individual smells to a dog.  This is why they're able to locate individual scents within a whole conglomeration of different smells.
 
So this raises the question, if a dog truly can smell individual smells as outlined, what do they smell when you flatulate?  What kind of farticulate breakdown would that result in?  Bruce seems to become rather interested in my buttock area whenever I happen to 'vent' (which is a VERY rare occurrence, I assure you, and when it does happen, it always smells like daisies in the breeze), so it's kind of an interesting question.
 
Also, I'm pretty sure they can't smell 10,000 times better than humans because if they could, Bruce would be dead.  The only time I've seen him be uninterested in chasing a ball was after another member of my household (who shall remain unnamed to protect her identity) pootered.  Bruce made a very firm decision to sit on the other side of the room until he moved into the kitchen.  He's a pretty smart dog.

1 comment:

Teresa said...

You may be joining Bruce in the dog house for a few days! You are so funny! We sure miss you guys!