I had the pleasure on interviewing Professor Aldrich about his dog Waldo. Waldo was a basset hound who passed away at the age of 13 in 2015. Mr. Aldrich assured me that Waldo was a very loving a affectionate companion. He loved to go on walks and would howl when he got really excited.

What really stuck out to me about Waldo was his sense of smell. Mr. Aldrich spoke about how Waldo would get a scent of something or someone and would chase it down until he got to the bottom of it. This was very interesting to me after I watched the TedTalk about how dogs see with their noses. A dog has the ability to smell a humans emotional state and even if they are sick or pregnant.

Waldo being a basset hound, relied heavily on his sense of smell to survive. He would go for walks to the park where he could roam without a leash and stick his nose to the ground when he was on the trail of a scent. Mr. Aldrich also stated that Waldo would act differently at times when he felt something was off. If he got a whiff of a strange scent he wouldn’t really know how to react so he would bark or even howl at times.

A dog’s ability to smell is so crucial to their survival and really amazing. The scents that they pick up tell a story of the past and the future as the wind can carry scents. Dogs can recognize the hormones released from humans and other animals and use that to help determine who is a threat and who isn’t.

 

<p; tab-interval=”36pt”>Stevenson, D. (2014). Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World by Nancy F. Castaldo. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 68(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1353/bcc.2014.0679</p;>

 

<p; tab-interval=”36pt”>How do dogs “see” with their noses? – Alexandra Horowitz. (2015, February 2). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7fXa2Occ_U</p;>