Short video clip of a close up of a Dalmatian nose, air scenting. The video clip is made after several minutes of a stationary posture, movements only in the head as the Dal makes a 180 degree sweep of the landscape. The weather has just changed to give a thaw; the temperature is about 3 degrees C and the young 8 month old Dal is almost overwhelmed by the air scents.
The canine olfactory system comprises approximately 200 million olfactory centres which allow the dog to analyze the landscape. This young Dal will often pose in a typical stance to air scent: What is unusual today is that she is doing it almost next to me so that I can film her. She usually does this at a distance, often at the crest of a hill and into the wind. The second thing that is different today is that there was almost no wind; usually this Dal will head into the wind to do this. Presumably the thaw has created a rich accumulation of air scents which is why she has stopped to analyze the landscape.
Why am I making a big deal of a dog's nose in the video?
Well it has to do with understanding exactly what behaviours and body movements Lusi makes when she is either ground scenting or air scenting, so that when we are tracking I will read her body language better and be a better handler because of it.
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