Can your dog smell fear?

Original article on The News & Reporter
By: Buddy, Special to the News & Reporter

Good day Chester, Buddy here again this week hoping you and your family are all following safety practices and wearing your masks should you have to go out during this time of anxiety over the pandemic.

This brings me to the subject of today’s article, and that is fear.   Have you ever wondered if your dogs smell fear? Is your dog’s sense of smell better than a human’s? How else can your dog detect your emotions?

When you love your dogs as much as most of you do, you know there is nothing quite like being greeted by a furry friend with a wildly wagging tail when you return home after being away. It’s no wonder we are called man’s best friend.  Through thick or thin, your dog is there to give you unconditional love.

But, all dogs are not friendly. Most people have come across an aggressive dog at one time or another. When this happens, some people will tell you to be calm and not to show any fear. Why?  Because dogs can smell fear! If we smell fear on you, we can become more aggressive and possibly attack. 

Is that true, though? Can dogs really smell fear? After all, fear is an emotion, like happiness or sadness. Can dogs smell an emotion? 

Experts who have studied dogs and their sense of smell have concluded that dogs can’t necessarily smell the emotion that is fear. They can, however, detect smells and see movements and body postures that may help them sense when a person is nervous, anxious, or afraid. 

Anyone who has spent much time around dogs knows we have an incredible sense of smell. There’s no doubt that dogs can detect the scents of sweat and other chemical smells.

However, smelling sweat doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as smelling the emotion of fear. Experts believe that sensing fear may involve more than smells. Movements and actions, such as stiffening up or staring straight at a dog, can be seen and interpreted by dogs that a particular person is afraid and therefore may present a threat. 

Rather than smelling fear, it’s probably more accurate to say that dogs can sense fear. And sensing fear is probably a mixture of smelling sweat and other chemicals combined with interpreting body language and other movements.

Like dogs, humans can also interpret body language and sense emotions in others. But can they smell things like dogs can?  Maybe! Recent research has shown that human sweat from anxiety smells different than sweat from exercise. Researchers believe that humans may be able to detect certain smells associated with anxiety and react with empathy as a result.

Humans who experience a fear of dogs are afflicted with something called cynophobia. At one time or another, some well-meaning person has advised you to remain calm and not to let the dog see you are afraid. Of course, this is easier said than done when your heart is racing and cold sweat is trickling down your back due to the fact that you’re standing within the lunging range of a Rottweiler…. or a Chihuahua. When a dog looks at a trembling, panicky human, what do we see? Do we sense your terror, and if so, does it influence our behavior toward humans? 

Questions like these likely have puzzled humans since the first wolves started hanging around the fire hoping for scraps of our ancestors’ roasted mammoth dinner. But since mammoth times, compared to many other species, dogs have done pretty well for ourselves in terms of adapting to human society and coexisting with them. Dogs fill an endless variety of roles – loyal companion, animal herder, hunter’s assistant, burglar alarm, guide for the handicapped, and playmate for children.

In recent years, however, scientific research has shown that while dogs aren’t quite the noble sages the ancient Greeks perceived them to be, they’re closer in intelligence and perception skills to humans and other primates than previously thought. According to researchers, a dog can comprehend human speech and can have a vocabulary of more than 150 words, is able to solve complex problems, and is even capable of willfully tricking another dog. 

Moreover, evidence shows that canines study humans for cues and have some ability to interpret things like facial expressions. If a dog can identify a smile, it’s not that much of a stretch to assume that he can pick up on the clenched teeth and wide eyes of a frightened person, not to mention changes in posture or stance.

But some canine experts think that even if you manage to keep a calm face and remain still while you are terrified, a dog will still be able to detect fear. That’s because humans, like other animals, experience changes in breathing rate and perspiration as a result of the fight-or-flight response. Specifically, humans involuntarily give off chemicals called pheromones when they are scared. Dogs can detect these chemicals because their sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive than that of our humans. 

But if you’re worried about a nearby canine sinking its teeth into you, what you’re really wondering is this: if a dog senses you’re afraid, it is more likely to attack you? What really matters is whether the dog is afraid of you or is anxious in general. 

In a study of incidents in which children were bitten by dogs, it was found that dogs most often bit children when they perceived a threat to their territory, food, or other resources, such as toys. In addition, children who were noisy and made unpredictable movements were at a greater risk of being bitten. When the aggressive animals were examined, about half of them had medical conditions, such as skin or bone disorders, which tend to cause anxiety in dogs. This would make them more likely to feel the urge to protect themselves.