Monday, January 25, 2016

The scented air

I was reading a blogpost by Patricia McConnell, whose writing on dogs is phenomenally helpful and insightful, and she was talking about taking more pictures of dogs sniffing...she has working sheepdogs so I don't know how or when they sniff, but a setter scenting is the most magnificent animal! We humans might think Claire is looking at something, but of course it's all about the scents for her.
Nobu loves this area for getting a whiff of the cats who stray around the temple below...he's always been more of a small animal hunter by instinct, although he has learned about pigeons and other birds from Claire.
Claire on point, using her nostrils, to test the air, make sure she approaches from a side the birds won't catch her own scent, confirming how close she can get, measuring the distance all by her keen sense of smell. I read in the blog, "Take your dog on a sniff", that there dogs use the left nostril for familiar scents, and the right for new ones (or was it the other way round?). I tried sniffing with different nostrils on our walks, wondering if the scents I pick up are different...I'm sure they are, just not practiced enough in the art of sniffing. Mum is more into ballroom dancing than sniffing...
Dancing rumba with Kent Nagashima, my gifted Latin ballroom teacher...hopefully not just about the visual, but making the energy visible...

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