There are often stories in the press about dogs making a remarkable journey to return to their homes after getting lost or moving home and now research has revealed just how they’re able to manage it.

The Express shared the findings of a study conducted by the Czech University of Life Sciences and Virginia Tech, which studied the navigational abilities of 27 different dogs across ten breeds for three years.

Using data from a GPS collar and camera mounted to each dog, the researchers discovered that they all used the Earth’s geomagnetic field to help orientate themselves before using other methods to find their way back to their owners.

The researchers have termed this a ‘compass run’, because all the dogs carried out a short dash of around 20 metres that closely followed the north-south geomagnetic axis of the planet. Thereafter, the dogs used either scent-based navigation or visual navigation to find their way back to their owners.

All the tests were conducted in a heavily forested area and in a variety of weather conditions, the newspaper added.

It’s truly fascinating what dogs are capable of and this study just goes to show that there’s more to their navigational abilities than a good nose for a scent.

As if to prove just how incredible dogs’ navigation is, the BBC recently reported on how labrador Cleo went missing from her home in Kansas, only to turn up days later at her owner’s previous home some 57 miles away.

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