Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Smelling Nose Dog

Canine with a common sense
 
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Two million people in America alone, suffer from anosmia, loss of the sense of smell, that affects their sense of taste, their safety and contact with others. Well-trained pooches could aid and guide them through the olfactory world. Such uses would include indicating if food is spoiled or the wine has gone bad, detouring poop piles during a promenade, alerting to gas leaks or smoke, notifying when there's a load in the baby's diaper and forewarning those allergic to perfume, cats or dogs.
FarmerJohn, Jun 13 2002

Anosmia http://hubel.sfasu....fo/SL02/anosmia.htm
smell loss [FarmerJohn, Jun 13 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       There's usually visual signs for most of the problems described.
[ sctld ], Jun 13 2002
  

       the visual alert for a gas leak would be the sight of the house blowing up.
po, Jun 13 2002
  

       Anosmia Anonymous Meeting:
"Hi, I'm John and *braaaaaaaaapoot* I'm an Anosmiac"
thumbwax, Jun 13 2002
  

       My dog has no nose.
mcscotland, Jun 13 2002
  

       where does his face end then?
po, Jun 13 2002
  

       //indicating if food is spoiled //
No food is sufficiently spoiled that a dog won't eat it.
[mcscotland]: That's a coincidence, my nose has no dog.
angel, Jun 13 2002
  

       <lobs easy ball to [mcscotland]> How does he smell?
stupop, Jun 13 2002
  

       ((({drum roll})))

Badly!

*ting*

I thank you.... <exits left for career doing early afternoon shows in Blackpool>
mcscotland, Jun 13 2002
  

       This puts me in mind of the Duke of Edinburgh's latest gaffe. To a blind woman with a guide dog he said, "Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?" Perhaps he should come on the halfbakery.
stupop, Jun 13 2002
  

       //that affects their sense of taste//   

       Would anyone use the services of a tasting toungue dog? He could lap the first sip of cabernet presented by the wine steward and bark his approval for the table. Or dip his taster into the spaghetti sauce to see if it's just right...
hinkle, Jun 13 2002
  

       stupop, thanks for a good laugh.
beauxeault, Jun 13 2002
  

       Sorry but this displays really poor judgement. Our dog eats anything, including Rawlplugs (brown preferred), carpet fluff, socks, snails, gravel, year-old hairy chocolates from behind the sofa, coaxial cable, moths, leaves from the unbrella plant, and candle wax. And boy does he put up a fight when you try to get something unsuitable back off him.   

       My friends wanted to run a betting game one night to see if there was anything that Harvey wouldn't eat, but fortunately I stopped them in time. The only thing he refuses is the more expensive brands of premium dog food.   

       As for the things he like to roll in, well ....   

       I would want to be really sure about the dog's training before I trusted it to validate the acceptability of foodstuffs.
8th of 7, Jun 13 2002
  

       blissmiss, you make a good point. I am not fooling myself about the massive training effort needed to teach a dog the finer points of wine tasting. They are surely better suited to the art than most of us humans anyway, even the non smelling- and taste-impaired. Dogs have such creative ways of showing pleasure/displeasure, too. I know my Sheltie would be a natural.
hinkle, Jun 13 2002
  

       Since seeing eye dogs are amazingly skillful and there are dogs that can signal for minute amounts of dynamite, fungus, narcotics, etc., it shouldn't be that difficult to train a dog to react after sniffing a cork and a few other odors.
FarmerJohn, Jun 13 2002
  

       Pinky claw
thumbwax, Jun 14 2002
  

       I'm disappointed; hasn't anyone caught the flawed logic of the idea's last word?
FarmerJohn, Jun 14 2002
  

       course, we just thought you were barking mad
po, Jun 14 2002
  

       There are dogs that sniff for landmines.
Tysenworld, Jun 14 2002
  

       Brilliant, FJ!
hinkle, Jun 14 2002
  

       How about a thinking brain chimp, while we're at it?
mrthingy, Jun 17 2002
  

       Well baked. <innocently> Who's that pop star with the pet 'Bubbles' ...? </innocently>
sappho, Jun 17 2002
  

       mrthingy: Thinking brain chimp. Baked to perfection. His name is Alastair Campbel (UK).
8th of 7, Jun 17 2002
  
      
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