This is a classic behavior that almost every dog \u200b\u200bowner knows \u2013 and it\u2019s actually quite fascinating! When a dog suddenly freezes and then sniffs intensely, they\u2019ve usually discovered a \u201csmell gold mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are the most likely reasons why your four-legged friend has just activated \u201cfreeze mode\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading \u201cdog newspaper\u201d
Dogs receive information through the urine or glandular secretions of other animals. When they freeze, they\u2019re probably processing very complex data:
Who was there? (Another dog, the neighbor\u2019s cat, or maybe a wild animal?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What mood was the animal in? (Stress, heat, health, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacobson\u2019s organ (vomeronasal organ)
When dogs sniff very intensely, they can sometimes practically \u201ctaste\u201d the scent. They press their tongues against the roof of their mouth to direct the particles into this special organ behind their incisors. Freezing helps them to fully concentrate on this analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pointing (hunting instinct)
Even if your dog is not a hunting dog, the \u201cpointing\u201d instinct is often still in their genes. When they have a scent (e.g. a rabbit or a bird) right in their nose, their body freezes so as not to scare off the prey and to signal to the pack (you): \u201cThere\u2019s something here!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enticing perfume
Sometimes the freezing is just a prelude to the infamous rolling. At the moment, he\u2019s checking to see if a dead worm or someone else\u2019s droppings are worth carrying around on his back as a new \u201cperfume\u201d.
A little tip: Give him time during these moments. For us, it\u2019s just a piece of grass, but for him, it\u2019s an exciting little story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did he roll around somewhere right after, or did he simply calmly continue walking after smelling?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a classic behavior that almost every dog \u200b\u200bowner knows \u2013 and it\u2019s actually quite fascinating! When a dog suddenly freezes and then sniffs intensely, they\u2019ve usually discovered a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nteresting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19854,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19852\/revisions\/19854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}