Is it true that dogs feel when they are afraid?

Since childhood, everyone knows the law that if you encounter an aggressive dog on your way, you cannot show fear. How does a dog’s sense of smell work and can animals know when a person is afraid?

Is it true that dogs feel when they are afraid
Is it true that dogs feel when they are afraid

Dog Smell

Dogs are famous for their scent. Because, just like sight, smell is very important for human life. The development of smell in these animals is due to the characteristics of the brain and the structure of the nasopharynx. When people find the scent completely, dogs can break it down into different parts and smell everyone. It’s no coincidence that his nose is always wet. The inside and outside of the nose are covered in mucus. When people find the scent completely, dogs can break it down into different parts and smell everyone. It’s no coincidence that his nose is always wet. The inside and outside of the nose are covered in mucus. If you look closely at the nose, you will see that in addition to the size of the nose, there are scars on both sides. It plays an important role in the perception of odors. When breathing normally, 47% of all air enters through the nose and when the dog sniffs, 53% enters.

The ability to smell is a wonderful animal skill. In this case, your dog will take up to 7 deep breaths. When you smell, your breathing is different than when you normally breathe. That is, it passes through the special projections of the nasal subnetwork. This allows odor molecules to form and be clearly identified by the dog. The animal’s nose is movable. In a calm environment, the nose “collects” information from the front and side. Each nostril covers an air radius of 30 to 130 degrees. When your dog is alert, coverage increases to 150 degrees. Receptors in the nose capture molecules of various drugs and “send” information to the brain. From these receptors, an epithelium with a surface area of ​​250 cm 2 is formed (depending on the species). For comparison, the human olfactory epithelium does not occupy more than 10 cm 2.

Some reports indicate that dogs can hear objects up to a mile away. You can feel it when you breathe through your mouth. There is a small nodule (mystoma attached to the nose and mouth) on the roof of the mouth. It is covered in receptors and captures pheromones. location:

Information on the number of olfactory receptors:

Bloodhound – 300 million;
Beagle – 225 million;
German Shepherd – 225millions;

Tax – 125 million.

How do dogs understand that people are afraid?

When fear appears in the human body, certain hormones are produced. These are adrenaline and norepinephrine. Hormones are produced by the adrenal glands and all cause changes in the body in response to fear and stress. These changes affect the composition and therefore the odor of human sweat due to the allergens released. It has been repeatedly proven that dogs can increase the level of adrenaline in the blood. However, the same experiment revealed that people don’t associate the smell of adrenaline with fear. To animals, these smells indicate happiness. A person’s behavior plays an important role, as does the way they speak and move. name:

For example, in one experiment, all participants were afraid of using various movements, gestures and faces. At the same time, half of them received an injection of adrenaline and the other half did not.

The dogs responded equally aggressively to both groups. Through experiments we can determine what the dog feels when it is afraid. The lack of adrenaline is worrying, but behavior remains the main source of fear.

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