Humans, of course, are superior to dogs in many ways—their intelligence, their longevity, their ability to reach for bags of potato chips in grocery stores—but there are some areas in which dogs definitely have the upper hand (or paw). For example:
their sense of smell. Dogs have more than 100 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared with the measly 6 million people possess. And the area of their brain devoted to analyzing odors is 40 times greater than ours. Dogs can smell emotions and some illnesses. They can be trained to sniff out bombs and bodies.
their hearing. Puppies are born deaf and can’t hear for about three weeks, but, once that hearing has developed, they rule! Dogs can hear at a distance 4 times farther and at much higher frequencies than people. They have around 18 ear muscles enabling them to move their ears toward sounds (something that would be utterly creepy to see in people).
their vision. While dogs can only see shades of black, white, blue, and yellow, their night and peripheral vision are much better than ours. And they see faster, about twice as many frames per second as humans.
their navigational skills. Dogs use their sense of smell and magnetoreception (the ability to orient themselves using Earth’s magnetic field) to navigate. One dog walked 2,000 miles across Australia to find his way home!
their personalities. Dogs that are well raised in kind environments are generally happy, loving, and loyal. They never nag, criticize, or dominate the TV remote (and wouldn’t even if they could). And they ask for so little—a bit of food, a warm lap, the toss of a grungy ball. Honestly, unless you have cynophobia, a terrible fear of dogs, how you possibly not love them?
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