E166: Do some dog breeds have a better sense of smell? [SJK Audio Edition]

Read this article at: https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/do-some-dog-breeds-have-a-better-sense-of-smell/  or watch at: https://youtu.be/ydH_4wytXJYSummary: Researchers compared the smelling abilities of dogs across different breeds to see which types of dogs might make the best searchers.Abstract: Have you ever seen a search dog? What breed of dog was it? Search dogs are specially trained to detect explosives, drugs, or diseases. To be good at this job, search dogs must have a sharp sense of smell and the ability to cooperate with humans. Common breeds of search dogs include German and Belgian shepherds, Labradors, and border collies. But are these dogs better at smelling than other breeds? Or is it their training and cooperation that make them good at the job? We wanted to find out whether some dogs are naturally better at smelling than others. So we used a test called the Natural Detection Task to compare how well dogs can find food using their nose without any previous training. We tested all the dogs with the same setup. We then compared specific breed groups and different breeds. We found that some breeds were better at smelling than others. But dog breeds that humans have selectively bred for their ability to smell were not always the better performers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencejournalforkids.substack.com