Sense of Smell!

[somebody]

For human, if you inhale a perticular smell for a long period of time, then you might lose the ability to smell that perticular thing (like working in chem. lab long enough and you might lose sense of smell to alcohols or something else).

SO my real question is that dogs and other animals who depend of their sense of smell, can they end up losing their sense of smell if they snife a perticular thing long enough?

So far i seen those drug and bomb detector dogs and they seem to work fine after years of training. Some one care to explain why dogs do not lose their sense of smell like human?

[Eclogite]

I suspect your basic premise is flawed. We do not lose our sensitivity to smells we are subjected to on a regular basis.
I agree that if we are subject to a smell for an extended period of time we stop noticing it then. This, I am fairly sure, is down to the brain deciding to ignore the signals it continues to receive from the olefactory nerves. However, having left the source of the smell for a time, then being re-exposed to it, the smell will certainly be noticed.

[TheBigDog]

No sight sense = BLIND
No sound sense = DEF
No touch sense = NUMB

What is the word for no sense of smell? Nose-less? Unscented?

Bill

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

No sight sense = BLIND
No sound sense = DEF
No touch sense = NUMB

What is the word for no sense of smell? Nose-less? Unscented?

Bill

Anosmic.

However, it is my sense that this condition is distinct and separate from the olfactory receptor desensitization issue being raised in the opening post.

[Monomer]

I found this regarding dogs trained for arson investigation:

Like humans, dogs suffer from olfactory fatigue. After a period of time on a scene they become accustomed to chemical smells and can no longer identify accelerants without a period of rest away from the scene.

http://www.raesystems.com/~raedocs/A..._and_Arson.pdf