Dogs sniff butts. Dogs sniff each other’s rear ends to gather information about identity, health, mood, etc. Their powerful sense of smell makes butt sniffing a fundamental social behaviour. We do not infrequently witness scenes that, from our point of view, appear grotesque, if not downright disgusting dog sniffing another dog’s butt, for example, is part of these attitudes that we do not understand and are wont to interrupt abruptly.
Yet, for a dog, the classic sniff of another dog’s private parts is a way of discovering its every secret. So why do dogs sniff the butts of their kind? Let’s find out together in this article.
Why do dogs sniff the butt?
First, you should know that dogs have a much more developed sense of smell than we do, so butt sniffing is one of the best ways to discover every facet of the animal involved in this skit.
We could say that a dog’s bottom, for another dog, corresponds to a veritable identity card: the odours it spreads in the air are loaded with pheromones, which is that substance that can tell one animal its heat period, but also its social status in the herd or its mood at that precise moment!
Why do dogs sniff the butt? Butt-smelling dogs: Why that particular area?
The anus area is affluent in information and signals for a dog, more so than the genitals. Dogs sniff the buttocks, therefore, to pick up on sure signs and behave accordingly.
For example, it is in the anal area that certain glands are located that have the task of shedding very particular odours: especially when a dog is frightened or stressed, which is equivalent to communicating a message to its fellow dog, such as ‘leave me alone, today is not the day!
Sniffing a dog’s bottom also means asking: How are you?
Sniffing a dog’s butt is also a way of greeting and taking an interest in him: dogs also smell this area to be noticed, like a human being asking “How are you?” to another human being.
Why do dogs sniff some people while others do not?
Sniffing for Fido is the same as knowing. It is through smells and scents (and also smells) that the dog gets to see the world around him.
That is why forbidding him to sniff is like condemning him to solitude and closure to the outside world. Yet the same dog is not always interested in all people. Some seem to attract his attention much more than others.
What is the sniffing dog communicating?
The truth is that the reasons for this conduct remain unknown. However, some scientists, such as the following, have put forward some hypotheses:
- Fido is simply using his nose to get ‘acquainted’. Perhaps with those people that intrigue him from an olfactory point of view – probably because they have had something for lunch that the dog likes, or because that someone has cats or other dogs, or maybe he has walked in the woods, or even because that person smells in a way that he likes.
- The dog would sense fear: it could be that fear makes people sweat more and that dogs perceive that smell (although this is probably a combination of elements, testifying to the ability of four-legged animals to read a person’s body language.
- Dogs would use their noses to smell a person they are happy to see.
What about the dog sniffing his private parts?
Many animals then seem irresistibly attracted to sniffing the anus and private parts. How can this be explained?
If it is the buttocks of one’s fellows, it is because the odours emitted from this area are rich in pheromones, a substance that communicates not only the dog’s heat period but also its social status or mood.
The same applies to humans, whose pheromones are concentrated in the axillary glands and the groin. Hence, the social indications. The four-legged creatures sniff them out for information if it is an unfamiliar person. He tries to understand his mood if the sniffing dog does so instead of his human companion. And did you ever realise your dog was sniffing you? Write it in the comments below.
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