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While most of us tend to think scent work is the near-exclusive province of a handful of breeds — bloodhounds, German shepherds and maybe a Labrador retriever here and there — in fact, a wide range of breeds and mixes is trained to detect various scents. Because of their fine noses and friendly dispositions, beagles are used to work airports by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and any manner of mixed breeds — lucky dogs pulled from shelters — have been used for other kinds of detection work.

Humans have about 5 million scent receptors in their noses; dogs have about 200 million. Dogs can detect tiny levels of odors, even a few parts per billion. Their noses are also uniquely designed to draw air samples through — for the most part.

You’re not going to see a dog with a pushed-in muzzle, like a pug, tracking someone on “America’s Most Wanted.” That’s because when breeding for a short nose — and a face more like ours — we’ve reduced the real estate available for scent receptors in these breeds.

On the other end of the scale, a dog developed for tracking, such as the bloodhound, has a sense of smell so keen, the results of his work are admissible in a court of law. In addition to a long, deep muzzle, the bloodhound has ears to sweep scent from the ground and skin folds to hold scents around the face.

— Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori