umwelt

i just finished reading "inside of a dog: what dogs see, smell, and know" by alexandra horowitz. it falls into that category of nonfiction that uses scientific analysis to attempt to understand dogs' worlds. horowitz starts the book by talking about this idea of the "umwelt", a german word, which i understand to mean the basic foundation of being. i.e., what makes a dog a dog, or a human a human, etc. horowitz argues that the dog's umwelt is primarily based on what it does best: smell.

she says that the amount of information we gather by seeing, dogs obtain by smelling. she then goes into this whole discussion of how the structure of dog noses is really superior to human noses. when we inhale, we have to exhale first. dogs, on the other hand, have vents all around their nostrils, and can breathe in and out simultaneously, creating air flows around their noses which helps to bring in even more smells. horowitz says that you can see this when you watch a dog smell dry ground - you'll see dust puff up and around as the dog is smelling.

i've now become obsessed with watching reg smell things, and i've taken to asking him, "what are you smelling, reggie?" because it's incredibly likely that he'll respond. i mean, seriously: why is that twig so interesting? i want to know!