More than 50 years have passed since the first recording of neuronal responses to an odor stimulus from the primary olfactory brain area, the main olfactory bulb. During this time very little progress has been achieved in understanding neuronal dynamics in the olfactory bulb in awake behaving animals, which is very different from that in anesthetized preparations. In this paper we formulate a new framework containing the main reasons for studying olfactory neuronal dynamics in awake animals and review advances in the field within this new framework.