Zen this year? H
by Sandy Phillips 18
Delmarva Unleashed
Winter 2017
ave you ever given thought to how valuable your sense of smell is? You know how that distinct scent of pine makes you think of the holidays? How just smelling the pine in the warmer months can make you feel that holiday warmth inside? What about the wafting smells from the kitchen; how those warm cookies and turkey in the oven take you right back to holiday memories in an instant? Dogs have 50 times more olfactory receptors than humans. If our sense of smell can transport us to memories, then dogs have to experience a very heightened response to smells and are very responsive to those odors. Did you know that we can use those smells to communicate with our dogs and with much success? With the constant stress we all endure in today's world, from simple street noises to electronic gadgets that sound at all times of the day and night, we can easily get a sensory overload and so can our dogs. That doesn't even include individual canine stressors, like the vacuum or the UPS man. Today's modern dog can be as stressed as their humans. In fact, many will mirror our stress levels as they read it in us, simply out of concern. Aside from doggie Prozac, which is available to them, what can you do to make their lives a bit less stressful?