Mmm, Feet… Why Do My Dogs Like Licking Me? The Attraction & Whether It’s Normal – Dogster

Hello, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to be taught extra about me and my 5 humorous canine, Poppy, Bailey, Kodah, Ned, and Fred.

I don’t assume there’s any doubt that, regardless of having many shared meals pursuits, canine and people don’t at all times see eye to eye about what ought to go in a single’s mouth. There are canine that get pleasure from partaking in poop (or in Fred’s case, selecting bits of carrot out of Bailey’s 🤮), cleansing different canine’ ears (I’m looking at you, Ned), and let’s not even talk about the hours spent cleansing their nether areas! One space that a lot of my canine are notably keen on licking is our ft; Ned and Kodah particularly. Why?

With a way of odor at the very least 10,000 instances extra highly effective than our personal, you’ll assume that canine could be repelled moderately than drawn to issues we discover notably smelly, however maybe their super-sense permits them to choose up on extra interesting particles that our noses miss. If that implies that I proceed to seek out smelly ft or ‘eau de poo’ repulsive, then I’m blissful to undergo life with my comparatively handicapped olfaction.

Every to Their Personal

I don’t commit quite a lot of time to investigating the olfactory high quality of our ft, however I do know that neither Husband or I’ve notably smelly tootsies, at the very least from what our meager sense of odor can detect. Even so, as quickly as we slip our sneakers off and deploy the footstools of our recliner chairs, Ned or Kodah hone in on our little piggies with the keenness of the proverbial ‘chubby child on cake.’

Whereas I don’t notably wish to encourage this exercise, I’m additionally reluctant to spoil their enjoyable, so I normally permit about 30 seconds of toe licks earlier than shooing them away (no pun supposed). Husband, however, lets the foot appreciation session persist some time longer. No, he doesn’t have a foot fetish (I don’t assume), neither is he making an attempt to foster any type of unnatural relationship between himself and the canine (I’m fairly certain), however I really assume 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 count on 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 should not fairly so candy!

What’s the Attraction?

So the large query is why are our canine 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 sneakers all day, or is our relative lack of foot odor the premise of their enchantment?

It’s usually hypothesized that many animals get pleasure from licking at human pores and skin for its considerably salty taste, however would our ft be the saltiest of our uncovered physique components? Maybe, however I’m not keen to seek out out.

Possibly it’s a bond-strengthening grooming ritual? However you don’t usually see canine devoting a lot of their downtime to cleansing every others’ paws.

Regardless of the case, I’m not notably involved about this little behavior. Maybe I needs to be extra involved – or offended – in the event that they all of the sudden cease!

Do your canine have any bizarre, great, or lovely quirks? Tell us within the feedback under.