Do dogs smell fear?

When you are near a nervous dog, the first thing they tell you is to stay calm and relaxed because the dogs smell the fear and, if you have it, they could feel threatened and attack you. But what is true about that? Reality or myth? We tell you!

Do dogs really smell of fear?

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When you are in front of a nervous dog for your presence, the typical advice of staying calm because they are able to smell fear can trigger several questions: Can dogs really catch their fear with their nose? And if they can, do our bodies produce a particular scent when we are terrified? And if dogs catch you being afraid, then are they more likely to attack?

Certainly when we feel fear, the body produces a variety of chemicals: sweat, adrenaline, stress hormone cortisol ... Dogs have shown the ability to detect all kinds of biological signals and are very good at reading to humans. They can know when we are lying and even "catch" our emotions. Studies also show that they can read our facial expressions to know if we are happy or angry. So if you can read us in these aspects, you are also likely to know if we are tense or nervous.

In theory, some dedicated chemist might be able to isolate an odor of sweat or urine from frightened people , and then follow the reactions of the dogs to it, but such an experiment has not yet been carried out.

However, it is more common for dogs to attack people who approach them and make gestures that they interpret as offensive and that is why they attack. A dog is more likely to ignore someone who does not move. That is why the children are told not to run, but to stand still, arms at the sides, when a strange dog approaches.

Remember that although domesticated, dogs are animals and as such, they are prepared to defend themselves against any gesture that they interpret as offensive.

So, while dogs might catch terror in you, this would not be the reason you were attacked, but rather the gestures you can make and be misinterpreted as an attack.

What did you think of this article? Do you think dogs smell of fear? Do not stop telling us!