Written by This would probably be one of the scariest things that can happen to any pet owner: your beloved dog goes missing and doesn’t return for days.
It might be that the dog got scared by its surroundings and took off, the owner accidentally left the door or gate open, or it got away during walks because it was not leashed properly.
Still, there are still many amazing stories of dogs somehow returning home, even after being gone for a long time.
I know I’m not the only one on this. These stories make you wonder how they do it, right? What makes them return to their home?
I know you’re curious, too. So, read on. I’ll share how lost dogs find their way home.
Their Sharp Sense of Smell and Vision
Dogs have an amazing sense of smell that is way better than us humans. While humans have around 12 to 40 million smell receptors, dogs have between 220 million and 2 billion!
That’s a lot! Pretty cool, right?
If you have a dog, you’ve probably seen this happen. When you take your dog for a walk, they often lift their head or sniff the ground and the air around them.
By doing this, your dog will learn more about your area’s sights, sounds, and smells. They will also use this time to learn about their environment and other dogs.
Did you know your dog leaves a special scent on its paws with every step? Dogs have scent glands in their paws that help them mark their territory and communicate with other dogs.
If your dog walks the same paths often, they strengthen those scent markers and pick new ones from other animals and people. This helps him navigate and track scents to find their way.
So, if a dog gets lost, they likely use familiar landmarks to find their way back home.
You might see your dog looking around when you’re out for a walk. This helps them take in what they see and create a mental map of it.
Navigating Using Magnetic Fields
Aside from their sense of smell and sight, did you know that dogs might use the Earth’s magnetic field to help them find their way back home?
In a 2020 study, a group of researchers in Czechia conducted an experiment on 27 hunting dogs over three years. They tracked these dogs during 622 trials in the forests of the Czech Republic by fitting GPS trackers and cameras on them and then letting them loose in a new forest.
In the study, the dogs walked without their leashes with their owners until they picked up a scent. Once they detected their prey, the owners stayed put while the dogs chased after it.
When the owners called the dogs back, the researchers observed how far they ran. On average, the dogs ran nearly a mile into the woods before returning home.
While almost 60% of the dogs used their sense of smell to retrace their steps, about 30% followed the compass run strategy, helping them locate their owners more quickly.
These dogs used a scouting method where they first ran a short distance along the north-south direction of the forest, no matter where their humans were.
Because the runs were mostly north-south, researchers believe these early “compass runs” helped the dogs find their direction.
Researchers also found that dogs that did these compass runs finished the trial much quicker than those that tried to track their scent back home.
According to the researchers, dogs’ amazing skill in finding their homes may be due to their ability to sense magnetic fields. They think dogs might also combine their mental maps with the magnetic field to help them when lost.
Some researchers think that although there isn’t clear proof that dogs use magnetic signals to find their way, it seems like a reasonable guess.
Another researcher believes that all dog breeds probably can sense magnetic fields, even if pet dogs don’t use this ability.
They also emphasize that more studies should be done to determine whether this is true and how dogs detect magnetic cues. However, they note that dogs are not the only animals with this skill.
Many animals can sense magnetic fields, which helps them with navigation and orientation. Pigeons, migratory birds, sea turtles, amphibians, and insects are examples.
Have you ever had a lost dog that found its way back to your home? Comment below with your experience.
