sensing a difference

There have been studies which have exposed that the canine species has trouble registering one sense when another is actively engaged. this leads us to believe that the brain either cannot focus and interpret complex sensory multitasking or it becomes so engaged that the brain shuts off the others in order to gather indepth information. I compare this to that of a blind person expanding their other senses or a deaf person who may develop a more intricate sense of touch to feel the vibrations as energy moves off one object onto another. Is it that the body is hindered from lack of one sense or given a gift of such indepth intensities of other senses? That being said, imagine you are on all fours and hungry and you smell this awesome, mouthwatering scent down amongst the leaves and it is close to the ground, if you were a bird you would open ears to the sound of underground bugs, if you allowed yourself you would feel the wet grass cold underfoot but, you allow yourself to open your nose to smuggle in the scent with your ears which dangle close by, you shut off the world and focus on that one scent, weed out the others and soon it carries you to the delicious piece of cheese someone dropped in the park. I would believe this to be a gift, such focus. Most of us humans try to tug the leash or yell at our dog, "what is with you, let's go, heel" these commands truely fall on deaf ears. What we work on with focus is getting our dog to not get to that intense "shutting out" senses and pull his interest in on what we want. That is why focus is such an essential command. When we start to read signs of our dog spotting a dog accross the park, we will see first the acknowledgement of the dog... then the brain processes what that could mean reading body language, then the action of how to proceed. The mind will do this for all sorts of things, prey,play, aggression, fear, etc. It is up to us to difuse the situation as close to the acknowledgement stage as possible, if we wait until the action it is near impossible to get those focus senses back on us. Practice focus exercises and whenever you see a distraction assume your dog is about to as well. Work that focus and call your dogs eyes onto you. Be confident, proud and interesting. Some people need help on the interesting part and may use treats or praise or may help the situation by placing distance or easing pressure by turning away from the distraction or blocking the line of sight with their own body. Whatever is used the timing is crucial. Some dogs are so sensitive to a certain sense that they may need a diffuser of sorts to help them through the situations with intense distraction, most dogs will be good with a smelly treat or something she really loves. You should take time to find out what your dog really loves. The smell will diffuse the distraction, you can also use aromatherapy oils to calm, relax or mask smells for you dog. Someone suggested to me recently that you can use a calming scent such as vanilla or lavender and place a diluted oil on a cotton ball and dab the snout above the nose to mask any scent which could disrupt . In this case it was for walking amongst other intact testosterone emitting male dogs so the dog would not get defensive and aggressive. There are also veil type products which will mask an insecure dog from staring onlookers (though I would imagine onlookers may look a bit more at a dog wearing a veil) these and many other ideas to help block or diminish senses intensities. Leading me to believe it is once it gets to the intense stage, this is when the senses are shut off and the brain is able to heighten a single one.
In our relationships with our dogs the respect for their ways is so important because it will tighten our bond and lead to better understanding. Understanding how the brain works is so complicated often the signals can be misread. What is important is that indeed the signals are attempted to be read because in the end this will indeed guide us to understanding our dogs. Don't be afraid to misread, do be afraid of not trying to read because then the connection will fade away.