Hmm. It occurred to me that we could probably use some more dog talk around here. Where to begin? Trying to do my part to further the study of dogs? It all started several years ago with coffee. I was working in a coffee shop and really got into perfecting the bean. I mean, perfecting. It got to the point where the humidity changing during the course of a day would drive me nuts, because brew times and grinds were constantly needing to be changed (to meet my standards). About 6 months into my new obsession, I started noticing subtle differences in the smell of different roasts and regions. Then I was shortly thereafter able to accurately identify coffee from any part of the world. Impressed a few customers with my skills, and one of the regulars got me started on wine. That's where my scent discrimination took on a whole new level.

(Don't fret, this IS about dogs)

Fast forward to July 2007. Now I'm a certified Wino. Bubba had at the time what I would describe as the "the smell of death". Well, maybe more like the smell of moldy wet dog. I bathe him, brush him, all to no avail. Then one day we got his glands pushed. After that his smell was very pleasant, and individual. That got me to smelling everyone a bit more in depth. With nine dogs to work with, I got some hands on time real quick. Here's my process so everyone knows where I'm sticking my nose.

There are three areas I use to gather my analysis.
1. Top of head.
2. Neck, within 4" of jaw.
3. Middle back.
By lightly rubbing backwards on the hair, I get the scent airborne. Then I place my nose about 1"-2" from the dog and take a deep breath 90% through the nostrils and 10% through the mouth. Followed by placing my nose IN the hair of the dog for the next smell. Then immediately repeat first sniff. By doing this you get what I call the "Base" scent. I use the strongest smelling area from the three mentioned above, but any will work fine. What we are doing here is gathering the overall scents from each area and combining them to makeup the dog's individual scent. After completing the process for the base scent, continue through the other two areas in the same manner. Make sure to repeat entire process three to four times before eliciting "Final Scent". For this, rub backwards the three areas as quickly as possible, and smell from about 18"-24" away.

First scent is common among all the dogs I've had the pleasure to analyze. All scents are rated 1-10, ten being strongest.

Wet Dog Smell:
This scent has the potential to overwhelm in certain instances. For example the Great Dane I used to watch on Fridays, I needed to smell from slightly further away. I'm also assuming that everyone reading knows what I mean by "wet dog". If your dog is perfectly clean for 24 hours and all of a sudden gets wet... That's the smell.

Earth Tones:
Trees/Pine/Oak/Burnt Firewood/Cedar...
Rich Soils/Dirt/Dust...

Vegatal Tones:
Root type: Beet/Potato/Carrot...
Leafy type: Lettuce/Spinach/Chlorophyl...
Cooked beans/Peanut Butter...

Floral Tones:
Strong Flowers: Iris/Rose/Marigold...
Light Blooms: Baby's breath/Daisy...
Citrus: Orange/Grapefruit/Lemon...

Spices:
Rosemary/Pepper/Garlic/Oregano...

Lactic Tones:
Soured Milk/Dry Milk/Vanilla Ice Cream...
Cheeses/Molds...

Synthetic Tones:
Glues: Elmer's/Rubber/Super...
Oils: Motor/Gas/Kerosene/Plastic...
Perfumes/Deodorants...


Example: Bubba is a wet dog 5, vanilla 3, glue 5. Coco is a burnt cedar 4, pepper 6, wet dog 1. Sometimes the primary scent isn't the strongest, but the first one that is noticeable. I'm pretty sure that if my eyes were closed, I could smell exactly which dog enters the room.

Wow- thanks Eddie! That's awesome

Unfortunately, severe allergies have made my nose less than optimal to smell things apart, but what a cool post! Treats for that!

Eddy,
I am starting to wonder about you I think this is a great thread and I might see if I can find some time to smell our dogs. this morning it was for sure the wet dog smell as the snow was melting on them!

Sometimes I think that Thor smells like peanut butter. Like their kisses which I can tell all four of the kids apart by, i can tell by how they walk, talk, and smell. It is interesting how they are all different in each of these factors.

Great thread harrise.