Do dogs get pleasure from sniffing?
Jaiden Lowe
2025-06-27 00:21:11
Count answers: 11
Some odors give them a sense of pleasure, especially odors from you, their owners. Fascinating new research suggests dogs can abstractly connect odors with pleasure. The area of the brain that was monitored is called the caudate nucleus. In humans, activation of this area is associated with pleasure. The research group found that the caudate nucleus was only activated by the odor of a familiar human. It appears, for these twelve dogs, the odor of a familiar human signaled a probable, pleasurable outcome. While we might expect that dogs should be highly tuned to the smell of other dogs, it seems that the ‘reward response’ is reserved for their humans.
Vance Bergnaum
2025-06-26 21:36:16
Count answers: 7
Dogs have incredibly sensitive noses with up to 300 million scent receptors. When you compare this to a human’s 6 million, we start to see why dogs enjoy sniffing so much. That’s why these slower walks, where a dog can stop and smell the flowers can be more pleasurable for your dog as they can glean so much information from a smell and it’s incredibly enriching for them. Sniffing can also be very calming for dogs. A meandering, sniff session on a long-leash can release the mood-boosting chemical in their brain called dopamine. Think of sniffing for dogs like social media for us humans, it’s how they get their news. Sniffing activates and exercises the brain and can make them feel just as tired as after a fast-paced walk.
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