re: #973 redstateredneck

No two dog butts smell the same.

I remember when I was a kid asking my mother why dogs smelled each others behinds (butt was a dirty word back then). She went into some long story about back in the olden days the dogs took their butts off when they entered a house like you would take your hat off and hang them all on a hook. One of the dogs looked out the window and yelled, “CAT!” and all the dogs grabbed a butt and ran out the door. They were just trying to find their own butt. My mother had quite an imagination, apparently.
:-)

Great story.

Dogs have scent glands near their behinds, and each has its own scent. They sniff there to identify each other. It reminds me of a comic strip I saw years ago; it was an “obedience school reunion” where all the dogs had nametags - on their behinds.

BTW, those glands can get blocked, and the dog needs to go to the vet to have them squeezed out. It is a quick job; one of ours has the problem. You can tell when he needs it because he licks the glands and gets really bad dog breath. And this is a dog who loves to lick people.