Learn: How Far Can Dogs Smell and Hear Sounds?

A dog's nose has more surface area. Air passes through our noses more easily than ours, so they are more likely to recognize odors.

How far a dog can smell depends on many factors, such as the wind and the type of smell. Under perfect conditions, they can smell objects or people up to 20 kilometers away.

In fact, in addition to dogs, other animals such as cats, bears, and skunks are also very good at smelling.

Of these, bears have the best sense of smell. For example, polar bears can smell seals from 30 kilometers away.

Dogs have an excellent sense of smell and are not only animals kept as pets, but they also assist humans with many important tasks. Dogs can assist in search and rescue to find missing persons, find dangerous items such as drugs and bombs, illegally imported at airports, and help in the search for wildlife.

It's all done with the nose, making dogs one of the best-sniffing animals in the world.

How is a dog's hearing? What can dogs hear? How far is their hearing distance? To find out, we must first talk about what dogs and all animals, including humans, hear the "frequency of sound."

Dogs and humans hear the same sound at low frequencies (around 20 Hz). But at high frequencies, dogs can hear sounds up to 70-100kHz, much better than humans at only 20kHz.

When you come here, many people may think of a special dog whistle. When we blow it, we can't hear anything, but dogs can hear it. The answer is that dog whistles make high-frequency sounds that only dogs can hear. Not only that, because dogs can hear higher frequencies than us, dogs can hear more sounds.

Dogs can also hear softer or more distant sounds, up to several kilometers away. This means dogs may be more sensitive to loud sounds. That's why some dogs are afraid of fireworks, and thunderstorms or a dog might bark at sounds you can't hear.

Part of what allows dogs to hear so clearly is their ear muscles. Dogs have more than a dozen muscles that allow them to tilt, lift and rotate each ear independently of the other. This helps the dog find the source of the sound. This is part of the reason why dogs may tilt their heads at certain sounds.

The excellent hearing also helps dogs do one of their other interesting jobs, helping people with disabilities. Their excellent hearing allows them to identify people approaching the house or oncoming traffic on the sidewalk to alert owners.