In case you are wondering from my post “A BLOG ABOUT NOTHING,” http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2012/07/blog-about-nothing.html I did not get my check for NOT blogging, so here is the answer to the question of:
WHY DOGS SNIFF BUTTS
Did you ever wonder why... dogs sniff butts? It seems nasty to us humans, why isn’t it nasty to a dog?
Dog’s sight is not that good and everything is in black and white. Do you remember black and white? Old TV, old movies, it was horrible. Dogs have to watch the world 24/7/365 in black and white. Dogs have no taste buds…come on…they eat their own poop! Dogs identify everything by smell.
When you identify everything by smell, nothing smells bad, everything just smells different. In order to identify another dog, dogs need to sniff each other. Even to a dog, all dogs look alike. They can tell breeds, but one cocker spaniel looks pretty much like another; especially in black and white.
To identify one dog from another, dogs use their sense of smell. They sniff where the smell is the strongest…the butt! Dogs can identify other dogs, they can tell where that other dog has been, they know if the other dog is healthy, sick or in heat all by sniffing the butt.
Scientists often marvel at dog’s incredible sense of smell. Personally, I would rather have our superior vision. I don’t want other people to know where I’ve been or what my mood is simply by my odor. I don’t want to greet anyone by bending over and sniffing their butt:
“Hey…sniff…sniff…Henry, how have you been? Just got back from…wait…sniff…sniff…the grocery store I smell. Sniff…sniff…Oh, sorry to smell you’re not feeling well.”
I way prefer to stick with the vision thing. Dogs don’t see that well,
and that is why dogs sniff butts.
Very interesting. It's good to know they're not just a bunch of pervs. ;)
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Phew! One less thing to keep me awake at night :)
ReplyDeleteGives a whole new meaning to "doggone it!"
ReplyDeleteThat's just gross. I can't believe you're my dad.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll just sit this one out. ;)
ReplyDeleteCannines have small glands in their anus and it is those that produce the distinctive odour. Male dogs have small glands in their urinary tract that excrete a potent liquid in a few drops of urine - that's their "ID" -with which they mark their own territory and also tell another dog that they have intruded into the second dog's territory -a sort of 'tagging' system that substitutes for fighting. It's a bit like 'counting coup' on another dog.
ReplyDeleteA bitches secretions from her anal glands is like reading her diary to a male dog -sort of the canine equivalent to 'twittering', a 'social media' thing. She leaves those secretions each time she 'poops' in a male dog's territory.
You've just killed the only reason I subscribe to Science Digest. I've been waiting for years to read why dogs sniff butts.
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