The findings corroborate veterinarians’ accounts of blind dogs behaving normally, including playing fetch and avoiding obstacles.
A new study reveals that dogs may use their very sensitive noses to see as well as smell.
A group of veterinarians, led by Dr. Philippa Johnson of Cornell University in New York, revealed that vision and scent are related in the brains of dogs – something that has not yet been identified in other species.
The team successfully connected the olfactory bulb (the region of the brain dealing with smell) to the occipital lobe (the visual processing area of the brain), offering new light on how dogs perceive and navigate their environment.
It revealed an “extensive connection” connecting the occipital lobe as well as the limbic system, which regulates behavioral and emotional responses.
The findings, which were published in the Journal of Neuroscience, indicate that smell and vision are integrated in some way in dogs, suggesting that they may utilize scent to determine the location of objects.
Dr. Johnson told that when individuals enter a room, they primarily utilize their vision to determine who is present and the arrangement of furniture. However, dogs appear to include scent in their assessment of their surroundings and orientation within it.
She went on: “One of the ophthalmologists at this facility stated that he frequently sees owners bringing in their blind dogs, even though the owners refuse to believe they are blind.
“The blind canines behave normally. They can engage in fetch. They can navigate their environment without colliding with objects.
Owners of pets with incurable eye problems would find it incredibly reassuring to know that an information superhighway connects these two regions.
“We have never found this relationship between the nose and the occipital lobe, which functions as the visual cortex in dogs, in any other species,” said Dr. Johnson, assistant professor of clinical sciences at Cornell and senior author of the report.
During the course of their research, the scientists also discovered human-like connections in regions of the dog’s brain that process memory and emotion.
