# Snorting and snuffling



## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

I've noticed the last few days that Russell is making this weird kinda snorting, snuffling (almost sounds like a pig) as he's walking with his nose to the ground. Honestly ... I've never heard anything like it from a dog! And I spend a LOT of time walking with dogs :act-up: It's like he's trying to get every smell he can up his nose? Anyone else ever hear this? I've especially noticed this when he's around water...


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## Underpants Gnome (Oct 12, 2009)

Yes, snuffling like a pig! Dudley does this on our walks also. I think he does it mostly when the grass is wet with dew, like on our morning walks, but I've heard it also when it has been raining. It sounds exactly like a pig and makes me laugh.


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_I have never heard my dogs do this. The only odd thing I have ever heard was a short time period when Billy went through reverse sneezing.

I love the photo you attached._


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## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

Underpants Gnome said:


> Yes, snuffling like a pig! Dudley does this on our walks also. I think he does it mostly when the grass is wet with dew, like on our morning walks, but I've heard it also when it has been raining. It sounds exactly like a pig and makes me laugh.


Is Dudley a puppy? Because I did a bit of surfing and I've found the exact thing on a Labrador Forum and a Beagle Forum ... seems to be common amongst scent hounds , especially when they are puppies. It is really funny :act-up:


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## BlackBootysMomma (Aug 11, 2018)

Does anyone have any more insite on this topic. my toy poodle does this. ALOT. I'm a first time dog mom and it worries me. My BooBoo is 7 yrs old. She is doing it now in her sleep.


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## doditwo (Nov 7, 2017)

Enjoy this explanation from a wonderful book by Alexandra Horowitz, Being A Dog - Following A Dog Into A World Of Smells. 

The whole book is a page turner for anyone who lives with a dog & their nose. 

On snorting:

“When a dog exhales, he creates what Settles calls, charmingly, “expired turbulent canine nostril air jets.” Through high-speed videography of nostril and air motion, Settles found that dogs create tiny wind currents by exhaling not straight out, but out the side slits of their noses. This strategy minimizes the odor displaced—what Settles calls the “sample blow-off”—by the puff of air. The wings of the nostrils flare, a nose-plane ready for liftoff, and expired air leaves through a sneaky side exit. Not only does it not push the odor out of the way: the exhale creates a puff that lifts more smelly particles off the surface and a suction that hurries the next noseful of smell inside the snout. The exhaled nostril jets are little rotating funnel clouds that pull Dorothy, her house, and her little dog, too, right up into the nose. Remember your dog’s short, thoughtful pause over the toy she is seeking? This is a pause of moment. She is sending her “expired air jets” right onto the source. More clouds of odorous particles come up from the toy and the ground. These jets are essentially increasing the reach of the nose, blowing and vacuuming in sync. One scientist I spoke with likened this kind of sniffing behavior to the circular breathing a player of a wood or brass instrument might learn to do. It is the sniff without punctuation, allowing dogs to get a continuous read of the world—just in the way that we see the world without pauses while we blink.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Do you live in an area with foxtails or other sticky, barbed grasses/weeds? Even if not, since this came on suddenly, if it continues another day or few, I'd want to check in with my vet on it just in case it's other than a new behavior. The accompanying posture, while maybe normal, might be meaningful.

At least with my Tpoo, his long ears obscure where his nose is when it's on the ground, and I can't see if he's found an interesting scent (he finds LOTS of those!), or if he's grabbing something he thinks is a snack. I have to be very careful, especially considering all the foxtails around here. Oliver never makes snorty noises, though, even when smelling everything he can.


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