Can dogs smell "pain"?

frostfell

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#1
I have an abscessed tooth right now that I cant get taken care of because no medical, and while Im taking antibiotics and painkillers it still hurts worse than any other pain in the world. Im also a pretty stoic badass, so im talking, functioning, and acting pretty much normal, but both my girls are SUPER clingy today, and both are acting mopey and sad and trying really hard to cuddle me, even going so far as to shove my laptop off my lap (which they NEVER do, they know better than to touch delicate electronics). Im pretty sure THEY dont feel bad, so why being so clingy? can they smell on me that im in pain? does pain have a smell?
 

Beanie

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#3
Dogs can be way more sensitive than we give them credit for. You might think you're acting normal but they can still be picking up that things are not right. From a scientific standpoint perhaps you're releasing stress hormones, they could smell those and know. Or they're just picking up on things that you're not even aware of from a standpoint of how you're acting.
 

joce

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#5
I think they know when you are hurt. Not sure if its your mood they go off or they can smell the blood infection etc. mine have always tried to lick an open wound!

Now my horses I think are more in tune than the dogs. When we had a kitten die here and when Byron died they were upset. Buried the kitten by the barn and they were not thrilled. My gelding also is in tune with if I am up for his crap that day or not. I have a migraine and he is an angel. A friend came over one day that was going through a really difficult time and my Doug laid his head on her and let her hold him,not his usual behavior!
 

frostfell

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#6
A friend came over one day that was going through a really difficult time and my Doug laid his head on her and let her hold him,not his usual behavior!
What a sweetie <3

thanks for the input guys, its definitely possible they smell the infection. just wasnt sure if pain gave off its own set of scent, or if moods have smells

what i would give for the nose of a dog!
 

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#7
I don't know about "pain" necessarily but Jack can smell/sense inflammation. Not only wounds (even tiny ones) but the swelling when I have sprained my ankle. He reacts by wanting to lick the area.
^agree with that. If something in your body is causing you pain, good chance there is inflammation, infection, or some other type of chemical issue a dog could indeed smell.

I was just watching a news piece the other day (maybe a week or two) about using dogs for early cancer detection! Apparently, they can smell and even alert to certain cancers before 'fancy' equipments and testing! :eek: How awesome are these creatures who love us so dearly?

Oh, and also agree with Beanie. Our dogs are very observant and in tune with what is happening with us not just physically but also emotionally. You might be fooling the folks around you, but your dog is not so easily fooled, LOL
 

frostfell

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^agree with that. If something in your body is causing you pain, good chance there is inflammation, infection, or some other type of chemical issue a dog could indeed smell.

I was just watching a news piece the other day (maybe a week or two) about using dogs for early cancer detection! Apparently, they can smell and even alert to certain cancers before 'fancy' equipments and testing! :eek: How awesome are these creatures who love us so dearly?

Oh, and also agree with Beanie. Our dogs are very observant and in tune with what is happening with us not just physically but also emotionally. You might be fooling the folks around you, but your dog is not so easily fooled, LOL
so much the bolded things. i love my girls so much, and them being so worried when i dont feel well makes me love them even more. apex predators and of all the things dogs could have done, they chose to link their fate to ours. i love dogs :)
 

Romy

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#9
Even if you're acting stoic, your body still releases stress hormones and those are smelly. I can even smell when most people are stressed, and dog noses are a bajillion times better than mine.

Then there's the infection smell. I've also read that they're aware of things like your heart rate, blood pressure, etc. It's something left over from them being predatory animals, they just don't use that information to hunt us like their wild ancestors did to prey animals. Strider is extremely sensitive to my heart rate and my blood sugar, though I'm not sure what he's doing when he detects blood sugar drops.
 

smkie

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#11
My Bronki always knew, knew when no one else did. And somehow he made things hurt a little less when he pressed his sweet heavy head against my shoulder or my knee.

I read somewhere that if you took the receptors out of a dog's nose and laid them end to end and side to side, it would completely cover the dog. We must be completely smell ignorant to them. They probably feel sorry for us for all that we miss.
 

Romy

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#12
A bit OT, but what does stress smell like?
It smells almost like pot, only a little more yellowy and a lot more subtle than real pot. That's one reason I don't like the way pot smells, it's like STREEEESSSSSx1000000. And skunk butt. lol

Unless it's dog stress, because that smells like fritos.
 

Taqroy

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#13
Even if you're acting stoic, your body still releases stress hormones and those are smelly. I can even smell when most people are stressed, and dog noses are a bajillion times better than mine.
Tipper reacts really strongly to stressed out people - even when they're hiding it. Like, cowering on the ground, hiding under chairs, submission peeing reactions. It's really sad actually and I've always wondered what caused it.

There was a guy in one of our classes that she'd been totally fine with until one day she growled at him, hid from him, and then voided when he got down to pet her. I found out later that he'd had a massively horrible day and was super stressed out.
 
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#14
Not only do dogs have a crazy sense of smell, but I find most dogs that I come across also have an amazing sense of discernment. They not only seem to know a mood in a room, but also when someone new comes over, (perhaps by their posture), a dog can tell their character.
 

HayleyMarie

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#15
I believe they can sense it, that is for sure. This summer while camping at the beach Tyler pretty much cut off the end of his finger, by getting it caught in the boat motor and Teagan would not leave his side. He went and laid down in the tent and Teagan stayed in there with him the whole time and when someone other than me went to check up on him they got growled at. Teagan is a B!th, but that was not normal behavior for her.

I believe dogs can sense more than we can understand.
 

Romy

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#16
Not only do dogs have a crazy sense of smell, but I find most dogs that I come across also have an amazing sense of discernment. They not only seem to know a mood in a room, but also when someone new comes over, (perhaps by their posture), a dog can tell their character.
I believe that "bad" people put off a specific smell. Not sure what exactly it's from. When Strider was a puppy I did a lot of drive building exercises from SAR exercises. He's not a SAR dog, but he's really good at air scenting and tracking. When he feels like it. lol.

Once in a while he'll catch a scent, and he just behaves a particular way. I know it's not a critter. I know it's not a lost kid or anybody innocent. He only alerts that way if it's the smell of someone doing something bad.

The first time he alerted like that, I let him follow the track and he found a huge stash of stolen AR-15 ammo and crescent clips in a giant cinderblock waaay out in the middle of a field, wrapped in an old coat. The police were overjoyed, and said they'd recovered the stolen rifles but never thought they'd find the missing ammo.

The second time, he led us a couple of miles off the trail in the middle of the woods and recovered a stolen, brand new, $1200 road bike buried in the leaves.

The third time he alerted like that was at a trail next to some railroad tracks in Interbay, in Seattle which led to a homeless camp. I did NOT let him go there though, as I was by myself and honestly did not want to find a dead body or a nest of armed criminals.

It's just odd how he hones in on bad people when he alerts and tracks, and it's purely by scent.

There were also dogs on the SAR team that were somehow able to hone in on the scent of the lost person and ignore the smells of other hikers, other searchers, law enforcement, etc. A lot of dogs weren't able to do that, but that fact that some can discern the scent of a distressed person is pretty interesting. It would be really neat if we could isolate the specific smell and use that for training, sort of like how we can use stuff like cadaverine.
 

frostfell

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#17
I believe that "bad" people put off a specific smell. Not sure what exactly it's from. When Strider was a puppy I did a lot of drive building exercises from SAR exercises. He's not a SAR dog, but he's really good at air scenting and tracking. When he feels like it. lol.

Once in a while he'll catch a scent, and he just behaves a particular way. I know it's not a critter. I know it's not a lost kid or anybody innocent. He only alerts that way if it's the smell of someone doing something bad.

The first time he alerted like that, I let him follow the track and he found a huge stash of stolen AR-15 ammo and crescent clips in a giant cinderblock waaay out in the middle of a field, wrapped in an old coat. The police were overjoyed, and said they'd recovered the stolen rifles but never thought they'd find the missing ammo.

The second time, he led us a couple of miles off the trail in the middle of the woods and recovered a stolen, brand new, $1200 road bike buried in the leaves.

The third time he alerted like that was at a trail next to some railroad tracks in Interbay, in Seattle which led to a homeless camp. I did NOT let him go there though, as I was by myself and honestly did not want to find a dead body or a nest of armed criminals.

It's just odd how he hones in on bad people when he alerts and tracks, and it's purely by scent.

There were also dogs on the SAR team that were somehow able to hone in on the scent of the lost person and ignore the smells of other hikers, other searchers, law enforcement, etc. A lot of dogs weren't able to do that, but that fact that some can discern the scent of a distressed person is pretty interesting. It would be really neat if we could isolate the specific smell and use that for training, sort of like how we can use stuff like cadaverine.
he probably was tracking the scent trail of someone reeking of adrenalin and shedding it everywhere. people who are stealing and hiding are going ot be WAY WAY more stinky than someone just out for a stroll
 

Romy

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#18
he probably was tracking the scent trail of someone reeking of adrenalin and shedding it everywhere. people who are stealing and hiding are going ot be WAY WAY more stinky than someone just out for a stroll
The bike he found in the woods by evergreen state college. They're full of hippie students living in tent camps that believe taking showers ruins the earth. :rofl1: I think the adrenaline is part of it, but not the whole thing. There's some other hormones or something involved on top of that.
 
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#19
The bike he found in the woods by evergreen state college. They're full of hippie students living in tent camps that believe taking showers ruins the earth. :rofl1: I think the adrenaline is part of it, but not the whole thing. There's some other hormones or something involved on top of that.
That is so interesting! I know that dogs are really good trackers, but its awesome that yours has the ability to pick up the scent of crime even without an initial scent provided to them for tracking. Makes me want to start a thread to find out more crazy stories others may have!
 

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