3 Random But Useful Things to Know About Dog Feet
How much do you know about your dog’s feet?
1. Frito feet.
That special aroma probably arises from normal bacterial and fungal growth, or maybe just paw sweat and skin oils (AKA your dog’s toe jam). Strangely disconcerting to know this, isn’t it, especially if you sort of like the smell? Since there doesn’t seem to be any actual research on the subject, why don’t you just go on pretending that Dogalini keeps a stash of Eau de Corn Chip somewhere in her crate?
(However, should your dog’s feet smell outright rank, or seem painful, or look rusty, that’s another story — head for the vet. Could be an infection or parasitic infestation or other real trouble going on.)
2. The Forepaw Lift.
It’s so cute, and it’s what’s known in behavior-speak as an “appeasement behavior.” One animal will offer an appeasement behavior to signal to another animal that it doesn’t have hostile intent and won’t pursue a fight. Your dog may raise a forepaw appeasingly if you’re angry with her, but we also see forepaw lifts when dogs are just being generally conciliatory and polite. Human smiles work much the same way. And, like us, dogs use a wide range of appeasement behaviors to signal friendly intent or to “apologize.”
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