Hello, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to study extra about me and my 5 humorous canines, Poppy, Bailey, Kodah, Ned, and Fred.
I don’t suppose there’s any doubt that, regardless of having many shared meals pursuits, canines and people don’t at all times see eye to eye about what ought to go in a single’s mouth. There are canines that take pleasure in partaking in poop (or in Fred’s case, selecting bits of carrot out of Bailey’s 🤮), cleansing different canines’ ears (I’m looking at you, Ned), and let’s not even focus on the hours spent cleansing their nether areas! One space that a lot of my canines are significantly keen on licking is our ft; Ned and Kodah specifically. Why?
With a way of scent no less than 10,000 occasions extra highly effective than our personal, you’d suppose that canines can be repelled reasonably than drawn to issues we discover significantly pungent, however maybe their super-sense permits them to choose up on extra interesting particles that our noses miss. If that signifies that I proceed to search out smelly ft or ‘eau de poo’ repulsive, then I’m completely satisfied to undergo life with my comparatively handicapped olfaction.
Every to Their Personal
I don’t dedicate a number of time to investigating the olfactory high quality of our ft, however I do know that neither Husband or I’ve significantly pungent tootsies, no less than from what our meager sense of scent can detect. Even so, as quickly as we slip our footwear off and deploy the footstools of our recliner chairs, Ned or Kodah hone in on our little piggies with the passion of the proverbial ‘chubby child on cake.’
Whereas I don’t significantly need to encourage this exercise, I’m additionally reluctant to spoil their enjoyable, so I often enable about 30 seconds of toe licks earlier than shooing them away (no pun meant). Husband, alternatively, lets the foot appreciation session persist some time longer. No, he doesn’t have a foot fetish (I don’t suppose), neither is he making an attempt to foster any type of unnatural relationship between himself and the canines (I’m fairly certain), however I really suppose he simply zones out.
I’m not going to lie, being that I’m not ticklish, the feeling of Ned’s tiny tongue isn’t precisely an disagreeable one; type of what you may anticipate from the fragile lick of a kitten till you discover out that these tiny tongues really really feel just like the spiky facet of a velcro strip. By comparability, Kodah’s beneficiant slurps usually are not fairly so candy!
What’s the Attraction?
So the large query is why are our canines so taken with our toes? What’s behind the attraction to our arches? Their hankering for our heels? Would their adoration intensify if we began carrying sweaty artificial footwear all day, or is our relative lack of foot odor the premise of their enchantment?
It’s typically hypothesized that many animals take pleasure in licking at human pores and skin for its considerably salty taste, however would our ft be the saltiest of our uncovered physique elements? Maybe, however I’m not prepared to search out out.
Possibly it’s a bond-strengthening grooming ritual? However you don’t typically see canines devoting a lot of their downtime to cleansing every others’ paws.
Regardless of the case, I’m not significantly involved about this little behavior. Maybe I needs to be extra involved – or offended – in the event that they abruptly cease!
Do your canines have any bizarre, fantastic, or lovely quirks? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
This text is part of Dr. Karyn’s sequence together with her 5 canines.
