A dog nose........

Dogs have an amazing sense of smell.

They can identify minuscule and long lingering scents and have been successfully trained to identify, animals, plants, mould, disease, emotions, chemicals and so much more. Dogs have an additional olfactory organ called the Jacobsens Organ which helps them to detect the undetectable.

A large portion of their brain is used for processing scents that they encounter. They can interact with environments, make determinations about other dogs and humans, identify us and also interpret how we are feeling.

So if dogs use this important sense of smell to interpret and interact with their world should we be more considerate about the environments we place in them in and how odours may affect them? Should we reduce smells that are in our control to make them more comfortable and safe? After all a dog can smell much better than us humans.

We believe that it is our responsibility to not submit our dogs, or ourselves, to smells and odours that impact quality of life and health. If it lingers on you, your clothes, your hair, the dogs fur, and other people then it's not ok.

Perfumes, cleaning products and other chemicals, fabric softeners and washing powders, air fresheners, essential oils, diffusers, exhaust fumes, smoke, artificial fragrances... the list goes on for what smells and what can be considered offensive odours. The same goes for dog wash products. Have a look at the labels, have a smell, your dog doesn't need cologne, it doesn't need to be submitted to artificial or overpowering smells.

We have all been in a situation where an odour was overpowering. We may have found it offensive, it may have taken our breath away, it may have hurt our eyes, caused us to sneeze, caused dermatological reactions, given us a headache, and some people might have other reactions like skin rashes, asthmatic reactions, anaphylaxis.

So, if we as humans think it's overpowering, then imagine what effect is it having on our dogs!?