# Are there any bad smells for a dog? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470 "2012-06-27T15:42:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/41 "2012-07-01T03:37:21Z")
Awful ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/42 "2012-07-01T14:17:07Z")
[Ba dum dum shing!](http://instantrimshot.com/) My dogs have always disliked mint, and citronella candles. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/43 "2012-07-02T18:18:24Z")
Perhaps because they can smell so many things, they just get used to the idea of smelling things that don’t smell good to them, with the few exceptions already mentioned. And, yes, I know that new research says that dogs don’t smell that much more than humans do–we just ignore a heck of a lot. ---
**Author:** ![ecanarensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e5b9ba/32.png) [@ecanarensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecanarensis)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/44 "2013-05-25T03:40:07Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Alexandra Horowitz writes in “Inside of a Dog” that she admires the “brave” way dogs directly interact with their world by thrusting their noses at everything without seeming to worry it might smell bad. That seems like remarkably stupid thing for a supposed expert to say. Sense of smell is primary way dogs interact with and learn about their world; she’s impressed by the fact that dogs seek to learn about their environment? If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be any dogs. Or by the fact that they’re not neurotically fastidious & terrified that they might encounter “icky” input? They’re **dogs** , not short, fussy humans in little fur coats. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Our dog Simone occasionally smells things and recoils with her mouth open and her nose wrinkled, in what looks to a human like it might be disgust. But she never hesitates to smell the very next spot. I think she might just be “clearing” a strong smell out of her sinuses and not really reacting with disgust. There’s some disagreement over whether dogs have a true flehmen response as cats do, but many animals have an organ in the roof of their mouths (the ‘vomeronasal organ’) which helps them ‘translate’ some scents. In order to use the organ, they get the scent & move their lips/mouth in various ways, depending on the species. Cats open their mouths and pull back/wrinkle their upper lip, horses pooch out & curl up their upper lip (it’s used a lot in cutesy photos as if it were a big horselaugh), etc. I’ve run across theories that the reason people wrinkle their faces up at bad/strong smells is vestigial…we used to have a vomeronasal organ. We learn to get all upset about the “icky” things. In general (Sailboat, I’m not addressing this to you, I mean in **general** general), assuming animal faces=human emotions is chancy ; animals don’t react to things the way people do, especially as to what’s “disgusting.” Most dogs absolutely love to roll in decaying flesh, rotting garbage, etc. There’s not agreement among doggy psyche types on exactly why they do it, but the most basic reason is…they’re dogs (here we are again!). Many, many people do it, & it’s part of the reason so many animals end up in shelters…they get a puppy or kitten & try to raise it like it’s a little tiny human, and it ends up being obnoxious, untrained, uncontrollable, aggressive…& gassed. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/45 "2013-05-25T17:24:54Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > I’ve heard dogs don’t like citronella, but it never stopped my dogs from coming out onto the deck when I have a citronella candle burning. I actually ended up buying a [citronella collar](http://www.petco.com/product/6659/Premier-Gentle-Spray-Bark-Control-Pet-Training-System.aspx) for my dog due to excessive barking. It works great, however she doesn’t seem to notice candles, etc., either. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/46 "2013-05-26T15:04:05Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > The only smell I’ve ever seen my dog actively avoid is coffee. Yet she’ll roll around on dead insects. :smack: Dead insects? That’s the worst thing she could find to roll around in? Must be a big city dog. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/47 "2013-05-26T17:38:21Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Alexandra Horowitz writes in _[Inside of a Dog](http://www.scribd.com/doc/85481300/Inside-of-a-Dog-What-Dogs-See-Smell-and-Know-by-Alexandra-Horowitz-excerpt)_ that she admires the “brave” way dogs directly interact with their world by thrusting their noses at everything without seeming to worry it might smell bad… The author is eminently qualified. She is obviously speaking metaphorically, to accentuate the different physics, hence usage. “Brave” in the same sense as if humans ran the risk of looking around and looking at a blow-torch flame, extremely bright light, etc. Moreover, much “braver” than human, and this her point re the difference between the senses of sight and smell for _all_ animals (as I think was suggested upthread), is that with plain old light beams, save for such rare occasions as blowtorches or being blinded by a sudden light in the dark, no untoward reactions in the physical apparatus results, no matter what our thoughts/feelings on the matter. > [@](#): > > …Our dog Simone occasionally smells things and recoils with her mouth open and her nose wrinkled, in what looks to a human like it might be disgust. But she never hesitates to smell the very next spot. I think she might just be “clearing” a strong smell out of her sinuses and not really reacting with disgust. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > [slight hijack] One of my dogs will periodically snort (that is, exhale) when she’s engaged in a intense sniffing session. I’ve often wondered if she was “cleansing her palate”, to switch sensual metaphors. [/slight hijack complete] Yes, this what she’s doing. Fun fact: that’s “why” dogs have those side slats on their nostrils; in fact, I think that’s part of their Linnean classification (on IPhone, pain in the ass to check). It’s to breathe out without disturbing the actual source or the air current of what is under smell observation at the moment. [Hijack, BTW] I was told by a clerk at a candle store to clear your nose palate between sniffs to sniff your neutral-smell sleeve. Works, too. Perfume wearers must have come up with this or something similar from the same necessity. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/48 "2013-05-26T23:48:36Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > [Hijack, BTW] > I was told by a clerk at a candle store to clear your nose palate between sniffs to sniff your neutral-smell sleeve. Works, too. Perfume wearers must have come up with this or something similar from the same necessity. > [/hijack] Yeah, not so much. The temporary loss of sense of smell that you experience when you’ve been smelling lots of different things in a short time is called “olfactory fatigue”. It hasn’t actually got anything to do with your nose. It stems from your brain’s inability to fully process multiple scents one after another. (Perfume wearers often experience a drop in their ability to perceive their _own_ perfume over the course of the day, but this does not necessarily impair their ability to perceive other scents.) Although perfume shops will often keep coffee beans or some other nonsense on hand for you to sniff to “refresh” your senses, the truth is that those measures are ineffective. The only thing that will restore your sense of smell is time. You can imagine that this makes fragrance formulation somewhat frustrating, as testers can only really smell a maximum of around five samples before having to take a break. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/49 "2013-05-27T01:01:05Z")
Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470/50 "2013-05-28T14:20:57Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Yeah, not so much. The temporary loss of sense of smell that you experience when you’ve been smelling lots of different things in a short time is called “olfactory fatigue”. It hasn’t actually got anything to do with your nose. It stems from your brain’s inability to fully process multiple scents one after another. That’s one of the things for which a dog’s brain is optimized – a much higher proportion of their neurons appear to be dedicated to processing scent than is the case with humans. While we pity them for being colorblind (they’re only partially colorblind), they have cause to wonder why we’re so “scent-blind.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-bad-smells-for-a-dog/626470.md?page=2)