dubhouse

Hi everyone. I've noticed peculiar behavior of my American Dingo mixed dog. Whenever we go to the beach and she see lizards and ground squirrels her hunting instinct takes over. She'll be digging for a squirrel and stick her head all the way down a whole and then take in a big breath of air then snort it out right into the squirrel hole. She does this over and over again. My theory is that she is doing the equivalent of a dog sonar, snorting out air and then smelling the air bouncing off the little critter down at the bottom of the hole. Has anyone seen this behavior in their American Dingos or other hunting breeds ?

skunkstripe

Hi dubhouse and welcome to the forum!
The quick inhaling or snorting is supposed to be the best way for a dog to get a scent. They don't do a long drawn out inhale when they really want to know what something smells like, they do a series of quick snorts.
I'm reading the book "The Other End of the Leash" these days by Patricia McConnell and I think that's where I remember reading that.

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