In an article by in Psychology Today, Stanley Coren poses the question: Why do dogs like to sniff crotches?
You may be embarrassed if you knew how much information a dog can get!
There was a case in the US where a woman even sued the owner of a dog for sexual harrassment. Fortunately U.S. District Judge Gerard Goettel dismissed the case. He explained that “Impoliteness on the part of a dog does not constitute sexual harassment on the part of the owner.”
Stanley Coren in another article in Psychology Today asks:
Can humans smell out their own dog?
This study was conducted by psychologists Deborah Wells and Peter Hepper of Queens University in Belfast Northern Ireland, and published in the journal Perception*.
Twenty-six dog owners were asked to sniff the blanket that was impregnated with the odor of their own dog and another one which had the scent of an unfamiliar dog. The owners were allowed to continue sniffing for as long as they needed in order to answer three questions: “Which of the odors smells the strongest?”, “Which of the odors is the most pleasant?” and “Which of these blankets smells like it belongs to your dog?”
The results were quite remarkable in that most of the participants (88.5%) were able to recognize the odor of their own dog, so perhaps our own sense of smell isn’t quite so bad after all. It does seem that women may be a bit better at this.
Here is the story of a Labrador I went to who embarrassed his owners by sniffing their guests.
Theo Stewart, The Dog Lady
Go to the main website: www.dogidog.co.uk
Paws for Thought 