Did you know that dogs have 25 times more smell receptors than humans? We use the brain’s visual cortex for smell, but the dog has an olfactory cortex that is 40 times larger
and has 125-220 million smell receptors on it’s bulb. Holy cow! Is it any wonder that they can track a scent for miles even after the scent is hours old? Or how about smelling cancer? You heard right, dogs can smell cancer. Let that sink in for a moment and be amazed.
I have a friend, now in remission thankfully, whose dog was letting her know something was very wrong last year so things were caught early. Not only that, this dog has been alerting her for years to her high blood pressure, blood sugar issues and even a heart attack, with no formal training other than nose work classes. Medical alert dogs are the most amazing thing. Check out this article for more information.