Not a very descriptive subject line I know, but here is the background. Our house is about 40' off the sidewalk, and there are no windows that a dog can see out the front. We believe Tilly is hard of hearing, possibly due to repeated yeast infections in her ears. She tends to only react to pretty loud noises inside the house, although she sometimes surprises us. (maybe she has selective hearing loss) Anyway she often reacts to people walking by outside, especially people with dogs, but often just people. It would surprise me if she could smell someone walking towards our house, before they even got there, if she is in the house with the doors closed. I've never really tried to figure out whether the wind direction affects how she reacts, since I don't see walkers either unless I go to the door and open it. She is 10 years old now, but she has always done this. Cooper doesn't pay any attention to people walking by if she can't see them or hear them.
I think that Pongo can smell dogs walking past our house even if door is shut and he is not looking. I can only think he is getting something from the (tiny) draft coming through the keyhole. He definitely smelt a visitor in the neighbour's field 100 yards away up the hill and out of sight and silent - went dashing up to say hello to them.
I've read dogs are used in big city gas detection as they can smell a leak under 6 inches of fresh asphalt. they can smell really well. But you say she has done thia all her life, she's been deaf all her life? We also read that when one sense is impaired the others sometimes become stronger, as if to compensate.
I know Labs have a great sense of smell. Avalanche dogs can locate someone 100 yard away if they are downwind, and they can differentiate between people buried in the snow and people walking around on top (Rafts don't get out of the snow so they are looking for one smell without the other). The electronic sniffer dogs, I mentioned in another thread, can find items as small as a SIM card, locked in a drawer. Apparently with just a quick pass through a room. I'm just surprised that Tilly can smell people outside of the house, apparently before they even get up to the house. She has always done this. I don't think her hearing was bad initially, but it seems like it is now. She is not deaf, but does not react quickly to a lot of noises that we can hear. It may be that her high frequency hearing is not as bad. That would be the opposite compared to people, since we typically loose the highs first.
I guess she could be picking up on vibration? In the same way as dogs seem to be able to pick out a family car going up a street coming home - a combination of hearing and vibration? I know Lilly can't see me coming home but she will often be sitting in the hallway waiting before I put the key in the door.....
Doug smelled a mackeral and mustard sandwich from 3/4 of a mile away the farmer once he got over his suprise at a large lab wistfully fluttering his eyelashes at him gave him a bite. They can hear my OHs motor bike before I can and I always know when OH has arrived. They also seem to know which dog is going passed and bark at the ones they don't like and ignore the ones they do.
