How's your yorkies sense of smell?

[Princess10]

I know some dogs go through nose work training, some smell any and everything, most smell food right off, etc.

Well I'm beginning to think Princess has a different sense of smell for each nostril.

If I walk in the door with ten grocery bags & one bag has a toy in it she sniffs it out immediately. If we're going some where & I stick a treat in my pocket she'll smell that too. Well here's where it gets fun. Princess spends most of her waking hours playing fetch. Sometimes the ball hits something, like a pile of clothes or bounces onto a shelf, etc. She will walk past it a million times while sniffing like a hound nose to the floor. She'll come back & bark & I'll tell her again where to look. Finally she'll find it. Sometimes she sniffs 6 inches away from it but never gets it. It reallllly cracks me up. She usually likes the challenge but sometimes gets frustrated so I help her. Is she the only one that sometimes sniffs like a space case?

[Cha Cha]

I think that toys begin to smell like their environment as they lay around the house and blend in with other smells. Obviously food has it's own smell, and new toys always smell different making them 'easier.' I love to play hide and seek with mine. I'll hide behind the door, or behind the shower curtain and watch them come into the room, look for me, then leave. I always wonder why they don't smell me and find me right away. But I can guarantee if there is a stranger in there they'll go right to that spot and bark!!!

[YorkOfTheShire]

LOL...thank you for sharing your stories, I laughed. =D

Sprout isn't a full Yorkie, but he does this too...he knows exactly where food is, at all times, but if it's a toy, he only knows the general vicinity. He used to know toys as well, but I think a lot of it is just his old age.

I would think Bella was part hound dog if I didn't already know better. She knows where everything is all the time and doesn't ever waver from the exact location. She's like a female Sherlock.

My 'awake' time is now in the middle of the night, because that's when Bella is awake and she sleeps during the day. That being said...she finds things even when it's pitch dark in the house...must be her nose.

[Britster]

Jackson has an amazing sense of smell. I cannot wait to get him into Nose Work. I ALWAYS see those nostrils moving a mile a minute! LOL. He smells everything.

I always find this interesting: a human has 5 million scent receptors while a Fox Terrier has 147 million, with a Bloodhound having 300 million (I believe Bloodhounds are the only dogs nose that will hold up in the court of law).

[DBlain]

Originally Posted by Britster

a human has 5 million scent receptors while a Fox Terrier has 147 million, with a Bloodhound having 300 million (I believe Bloodhounds are the only dogs nose that will hold up in the court of law).

interesting info.
I can understand smelling food, but Lola also has an amazing sense of smell, I put some of her toys in a zippered tote bag, on a high shelf in a closed closed and not long after, I found her standing in front of the closet looking up, wining and pawing at it.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by Britster

Jackson has an amazing sense of smell. I cannot wait to get him into Nose Work. I ALWAYS see those nostrils moving a mile a minute! LOL. He smells everything.

I always find this interesting: a human has 5 million scent receptors while a Fox Terrier has 147 million, with a Bloodhound having 300 million (I believe Bloodhounds are the only dogs nose that will hold up in the court of law).

Very interesting. Yorkies have to be up there. Max has a great nose, and Teddy has an insane nose. His breeder told us he is a nose man and she wasn't kidding. I would love to take him to a nose work class.

[gemy]

Me too Kristin for the nose work. Razzle has an amazing nose. Almost as good as my cat Karma's. Also he has very sharp vision. Zoey is in the middle. And last but never least is Magic.

[gemy]

OOH I forgot to mention; one time at a busy show; lots of ppl, dogs, etc, he had been with his handler for a week. I came on the Sunday; and stood back from the ring; I mean at least a couple hundred feet or so. At first everything was going fine; then his handler stacked him a little closer to me near the entrance to ring. I saw his head go up high high; his wee nose was working as he turned his head side to side. I froze where I was, he ended up almost pointing his nose exactly to where I was standing.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by gemy

OOH I forgot to mention; one time at a busy show; lots of ppl, dogs, etc, he had been with his handler for a week. I came on the Sunday; and stood back from the ring; I mean at least a couple hundred feet or so. At first everything was going fine; then his handler stacked him a little closer to me near the entrance to ring. I saw his head go up high high; his wee nose was working as he turned his head side to side. I froze where I was, he ended up almost pointing his nose exactly to where I was standing.

On the one hand it is fascinating what these little ones are capable of with their noses, on the other hand, it makes me thankful that we humans do not have such keen senses. It amazes me that I can shake a person's hand and then come home and the boys are all over that hand.

[SWHouston]

There are numerous articles from many very qualified and well informed people, on why the Yorkshire was bread.

When you repeatedly verify how that took place, you'll see that actually well have little Varminteer Hunting Dogs which are Scent Hounds as well. And, just to add Icing to that cake, it seems that the Females are better at it than the Males.

The Yorkshire was put together VERY well, Kudos to the people who did that !

[Tessa327]

Tessa has a keen sense of smell. We play a game on the bed where I would hide a toy or treat under some pillows/blankets and she sniffs them out each time. She our wannabe K9 gal.

[Princess10]

I will give Princess credit that she sniffed out about 5 Christmas toys on the top shelf of my closed closet, in a bag. I moved them to the trunk, the ones I wasn't forced to give her.

But she went the other way again tonight. There was a large fluffed up blanket on the floor & her ball landed on it. She sniffed & dove her head into the blanket twice, way off target then finally found it. It's like her brain says "bingo!" but there's no bingo yet. I love hearing the stories about the other pups. It's funny how they're so much alike, yet so different.

[SWHouston]

I rely quite heavily on my two providing "security" for me. Have provided them access (stairs/ramps) where they can view out the first and second floor windows. But, when they are outside and just "hanging around", they have their noses up in the air, sniffing constantly, and can detect the Postman a block away.

Frequently they alarm (bark) and rush to the fence which in most places one can not see through. I've given up looking (over the fence) because every time I have, there has been a Cat, someone walking by or something else, which is an "authorized" alert, and they've done that totally on scent. And the "intruder" doesn't have to be very close at all.

Also, they have a "level" of alarm, which is more apparent to them, than it is me. I can "sorta" tell just what level of threat they are placing it at.

Like for a Cat, it won't be as intense, like just a moderate call to the other, to say "look there's a Cat out here, come look".
Then, there's the biggie, where they see or smell someone at night. That's a lot more intense and I always check that one out.