Why Do Dogs Smell Your Crotch? Here Is The Reason

It seems that dogs use sniffing as a way of greeting people that are new to them but many dog owners find the act of sniffing crotches annoying at times.

Dogs use sniffs for greeting new people at their place and to show their love and affection towards them. Dogs treat their owner as a natural part of the pack and this could be a reason behind the sniffing.

What are the reasons for 'why dogs smell your crotch'? Well, dogs do not have knowledge about the boundaries made by humans. They are not aware of the rules and regulations of humans. Dogs not only sniff crotches, but also the private parts like the groin area and genital female parts, also. They detect hormones secreted by female bodies very quickly. Sniffing crotches and parts of the human body is annoying to many people, especially, dog owners. Dogs tend to sniff around females more than men. They have sweat glands that are familiar to dogs. As a result, dogs sniff and smell private female parts to recognize the familiar scent as them.

After finding reasons for why dogs smell your crotch, you may also like reading about why dogs cough and why dogs drag their butts.

Is it normal for a dog to smell your crotch?

Do you know that dogs have more than 220 million sensors in their nose, giving them a heightened sense of smell? However, why are they always seeking to smell the human groin region?

Many people find crotch sniffing by dogs an embarrassing act as dogs not only take the scent of the crotches, but also the private genital parts of people. When a dog sniffs, it makes people feel weird. A dog’s sense of smell can make people feel annoyed at times. This behavior of dogs is not limited to a certain time or place or their owners. If a dog finds a new person in the room, they usually go and smell them. The reason behind smelling people or crotches is that the dog is trying to get the smell of the place or person and recognizing it to the previously encountered one.

It is completely normal that dogs sniff human crotches as the smell it gets is more familiar to their own. Dogs sniff and smell around human crotches more at times, like when a female is going through her period, or a woman is pregnant. During these times, the body of people releases pheromones in greater quantities than usual. If a mother has recently given birth to a child or a woman is suffering from ovarian cancer, you will find a dog sniffing around her most of the time.

What to do when your dog is smelling your crotch?

Dogs sniffing is not only limited to smelling human crotches, but also the armpits, genital areas, and groin areas, particularly of women the most. Their attraction towards the hormones secreted by the human body is natural. They are more likely to sniff around menstruating women, or who have recently had sex or a female who had delivered a baby. This behavior of dogs sniffing crotches represents the search of familiar smells they have from their own body most of the time.

Trained dogs tend to listen to their owners the most, and if you simply say no to them, there are more chances they stop embarrassing you in front of your guests by putting their noses in crotches unnecessarily. Though they seem to sniff your guests as a greeting, it can make them awkward many times also. Try to give training to your dog to not to sniff unnecessarily. Try to train them in other ways of greeting relatives and friends rather than sniffing around.

How to make your dog stop smelling your crotch?

If you want to stop your dog from smelling and sniffing around your crotch by putting their nose in the crotches to take the scent from them, the best way to do so is to train your dog well.

Training them not to sniff crotches and all around the house and smell new people coming to the house is the best way to stop them from performing this awkward behavior of crotch sniffing. Deal with your canine friend by providing them toys to sniff so they stop sniffing groin areas of people. It will make them busy with the object they have and will not come to you and other people in the house to sniff and get their scent all day long.

Reasons Why Dogs Smell Your Crotches

Before understanding whether it is normal for a dog to sniff around your crotch or not, you need to know the reason why dogs smell your crotches. Dogs consist of the sensory organ which is called the vomeronasal organ in their body. This organ is very sensitive towards the apocrine glands present inside the bodies of humans. These apocrine glands secrete and produce hormones that are called pheromones, which are easily picked up by dogs. These apocrine glands are present in the private parts of the human body. The pheromones produced by the apocrine glands share the same scent similar to the scent dog’s private parts have. This is the reason their scent attracts dog’s interest more.

These same pheromones are also secrets by parts in the dog’s body like the anal part. This is the reason why dogs usually sniff and also lick their own private parts. When dogs smell the same scent from your crotch with the help of their super flexible noses, it makes them get a similar feeling they get from their own body, and the dog sniffs around humans. This is the reason why dogs usually sniff crotches and things that you usually use and sit every day on. Moreover, these apocrine glands secrete pheromones in large quantities in some particular times of life like when a woman is pregnant or having their menstruation going on or if a woman has had sex recently. They can easily detect menstruating females. Dogs put their heads in the crotches of females more when their body hormones are at the highest fluctuation levels. This is the reason you will find your dog sniffing crotches more during these days. The release of high pheromones and other sexual hormones makes dogs sniff around females more.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for why do dogs smell your crotch, then why not take read about why dogs dig, and ragamuffin cat facts.