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July 05, 2022

Why they insist on sniffing us 'there'

Why they insist on sniffing us 'there'
Dr. Chris Brown
by DR. CHRIS BROWN

There’s an eye opening reason why dogs and cats insist on sticking their noses between our legs…and those of any visitors we might have!

Hint: It’s not just to hear the surprised yelp we make!

There’s no doubt the furry family know how to make things awkward - and amusing - all at the same time. But that nose to the groin is actually a fascinating demonstration of a power that we simply don’t possess…

You see, dogs and cats can detect pheromones. Yes, those very subtle chemicals that animals release from their skin, urine and importantly, their ‘private areas’ to communicate with each other.  It means that without words, they can tell another animal all about their age, diet and importantly sexual status.

It’s why dogs sniff each other in the park and why cats scan so obsessively for the smell of another cat’s wee in your yard.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) we humans lost any ability to detect them a long time ago. But here’s the real kicker. It’s thought we do still produce pheromones and chemical messages from those private spots…even if they’re not being detected by us. And we can thank tiny sweat glands (called apocrine glands) for that. We have lots of them all over our body but they're concentrated under our arms and, you guessed it, between our legs!

But guess what? Someone just happens to be on hand to take the call! With their noses…

So instead of asking ‘How are you?’…our furry family just find out for themselves every day by sniffing us. It tells them everything they need to know about their favourite people. Even the very personal details like our hormonal status and yes...what stage of your cycle you're at. 

While the nose to the groin of visitors basically serves as a quick check of their ID. With a sense of smell over 10,000 times better than ours AND an ability to detect pheromones, there’s every chance that quick sniff tells them way more than any human conversation will tell us. Crazy huh.

It turns out the nose knows more than we can imagine!

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