A dog’s nose is made up of the rhinarium, which is the textured skin covering the nose and makes up your dog’s unique fingerprint, as well as being crammed with pressure and temperature sensors. The rhinarium is moist, giving the nose its beautiful black shiny appearance, which people have long believed is an indicator of good health. The moisture in fact allows dogs to capture and process scents better, by “catching” scent molecules, and also allows them to monitor temperature changes.
The Philtrum is the slit which runs vertically down the front of the nose, it carries moisture from the mouth to the rhinarium.
The nostrils are almost comma shaped, and are able to move independently. Dogs use only their right nostril to smell scents associated with danger, commonplace or “interesting” scents will be sniffed first with the right nostril and then with the left.
Fun Facts:
- A dog can breathe in and out at the same time
- Dogs smell in 3D, they can smell separately with each nostril. The brain uses different scent profiles from each nostril to find smelly objects
- A truffle sniffing dog??? Yes it’s true, the Lagotto Romagnolo is used in Italy to hunt out truffles.