Your dog’s enthusiasm for sniffing crotches can be both irritating and embarrassing, especially when the object of his attention is a guest. It helps to know that, like barking and wagging his tail, sniffing is one of the most common natural behaviors for dogs. It is both a greeting and a means of gathering information.

Dogs have a keenly developed sense of smell—with approximately 220 million sensors in their noses as compared to only 5 million in humans—and are capable of detecting scents unnoticeable to humans. The sense of smell is a vital way of obtaining information for canines.

The main reason dogs sniff the rear area of other dogs is because dog’s anal glands emit scents that provide clues about them—including health, gender, and mood. Also, greeting another animal face-to-face could be dangerous if the other animal is hostile.

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