Video lets us in on what happens whenever a dog sniffs another one's behind

Jul 29, 2014 14:33 GMT  ·  By

Most people are all too familiar with the fact that, for some reason, dogs seem to love and adore sniffing each other's behinds. As it turns out, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this behavior.

As detailed in the video below, which made it online this past July 28, dogs like to go around smelling their friends' and companions' dorsal sides in an attempt to get to know them better.

Thus, chemical signals originating from this part of a dog's anatomy provide other pooches with information concerning gender, emotional state, and even diet.

Simply put, this behavior that pretty much all dogs display all throughout their lives is a form of chemical communication, which happens to be fairly widespread in the animal kingdom.

These chemical signals that dogs pick up on when sniffing other pooches' behinds are chiefly made up of trimethylamine and short chain acids. These last compounds are to blame for the pungent smell.

In order to process these chemical signals, dogs rely on auxiliary olfactory sense organ dubbed Jacobsen's Organ, which sends the signals straight to the brain.

Check out the video to learn more about this form of chemical communication in dogs, and feel free to share your thoughts on it in the comments section below.