Why do dogs sniff other dogs butts?

Socially dogs may have strange behaviors compared to humans but for dogs, these behaviors make perfect sense! Thirty three percent of a dog’s brain is designed to process smells. Dogs have a keen sense of smell and are useful to human for sniffing out everything from smuggled drugs to diseases. Human being only use 5 percent of the brain to process smells by comparison.

When a dog sniffs the rear end of another dog, his sense of smell meets the other dog’s anal glands, which produce strong smells and give clues about all sorts of things to other dogs. Besides, they can't shake hands! Smelling each other is a socially accepted practice among dogs. Sniffing is calming, even for dogs who already know each other they will sniff each other every time they meet.

Here are a couple more links for more in-depth information on this fascinating subject!

http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/mean-dog-smelling-other-dogs-butts-2377.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pets-and-their-people/201108/scent-matching-how-the-nose-knows

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