Before we knew anything about dogs, when we were quite young, we recall the first time we saw a dog sniff another pup’s backside. Yes, there was the giggle but then, very serious, we asked our Dad why he did that. Even at that age we knew about “personal space” and that just seemed a little too intrusive.
Dad said: “It’s what dogs do.” Which was fine but did not really answer my question.
Again and again, we would see that same rather disturbing behavior from dogs! Okay, there was something up and except for the chuckles coming from the boys at school who saw it we were still in the dark as to why dogs would do such a thing – and often.
It was not until later that I realized I was an uptight kid and this was, indeed, normal and important behavior for dogs! It is all about social development and we were eventually appeased when, a little older, we finally “got it”.
After the break go to the next page and check out why it is important to allow a dog to sniff another dog’s butt!
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