When dogs meet, sniffing takes the place of handshake
When dogs meet, sniffing takes the place of handshake
From Clay Thompson’s Valley 101 column in the Arizona Republic 12/15/08
Today’s question: If a dog’s sense of smell is so much better than ours, why do they have to sniff each other’s butts? Couldn’t they smell them from across the yard?
You people just never run out of things to wonder about, do you? I guess that’s good. I need the work.
Anyway, when a dog meets a new dog or greets a dog it hasn’t seen for a while, it goes through a lot of ritual posturing. The two check each other for how they hold their heads or position their ears or tails. They sniff and sometimes lick each other’s muzzles. Then they sniff each other’s privates.
This is all business that can’t be done with quick sniff from across the yard any more than you could wave from across the room when introduced to someone new. You have to shake hands and say howdy and size each other up.
Dogs, male and female, have two anal glands that give off a unique odor. Sniffing around back there tells dogs a lot about each other – gender, status, pregnancy, diet and stuff like that.
Fortunately, Mother Nature gives us less intrusive methods of communicating.
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