ArticlePloS one2016
A Test of Canine Olfactory Capacity: Comparing Various Dog Breeds and Wolves in a Natural Detection Task.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed.
- Canine "Sniffin' Sticks" enable behavioural olfactometry to complement neurological examination in dogs.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Reliability, repeatability, and age associations of the dogSIT (dog Smell Interaction Test) battery in untrained companion dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- What Makes Canine Search and Rescue Successful? Insights into Environmental, Management, and Personality Factors.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Evaluating effects of aging on dog olfactory performance.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The Role of Olfaction in Dogs: Evolution, Biology, and Human-Oriented Work.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- A legacy of genetic entanglement with wolves shapes modern dogs.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Establishing the volatile organic compound profile and detection capabilities of human remain detection dogs to human bones.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2025Article
- Dogs' olfactory resting-state functional connectivity is modulated by age and brain shape.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Genetic and Anatomical Determinants of Olfaction in Dogs and Wild Canids.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Behavioural differences and similarities between dog breeds: proposing an ecologically valid approach for canine behavioural research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Diversity in chemosensory receptor genes in dogs and wolves: degeneration of the olfactory receptor gene repertoire in the brachycephalic Pug.Chemical senses · 2025Article
- Breed differences in olfactory performance of dogs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- A framework to refocus the conversation around the welfare of UK purebred cats.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Review
- Success in the Natural Detection Task is influenced by only a few factors generally believed to affect dogs' olfactory performance.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Scent Detection Threshold of Trained Dogs toAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Dog sniffing biomechanic responses in an odor detection test of odorants with differing physical properties.Journal of animal science · 2024Article
- The Olfaction Ability of Medical Detection Canine to Detect Prostate Cancer From Urine Samples: Progress Captured in Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.World journal of oncology · 2023Article
- The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds' problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many dog breeds are bred specifically for increased performance in scent-based tasks. Whether dogs bred for this purpose have higher olfactory capacities than other dogs, or even wolves with whom they share a common ancestor, has not yet been studied. Indeed, there is no standard test for assessing canine olfactory ability. This study aimed to create a simple procedure that requires no pre-training and to use it to measure differences in olfactory capacity across four groups of canines: (1) dog breeds that have been selected for their scenting ability; (2) dog breeds that have been bred for other purposes; (3) dog breeds with exaggerated short-nosed features; and (4) hand-reared grey wolves. The procedure involved baiting a container with raw turkey meat and placing it under one of four identical ceramic pots. Subjects were led along the row of pots and were tasked with determining by olfaction alone which of them contained the bait. There were five levels of increasing difficulty determined by the number of holes on the container's lid. A subsample of both dogs and wolves was retested to assess reliability. The results showed that breeds selected for scent work were better than both short-nosed and non-scent breeds. In the most difficult level, wolves and scenting breeds performed better than chance, while non-scenting and short-nosed breeds did not. In the retested samples wolves improved their success; however, dogs showed no change in their performances indicating that a single test may be reliable enough to assess their capacity. Overall, we revealed measurable differences between dog breeds in their olfactory abilities and suggest that the Natural Detection Task is a good foundation for developing an efficient way of quantifying them.
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