Tony Alter / CC
Have you ever smelled a dog’s feet? I can’t say I spend a hole lot of time checking out the feet of my dog. Every now and then my wife will comment that her feet smell like popcorn. Some people say Fritos, but since we don’t tend to eat a lot of Fritos, it tends to remind us more of popcorn.
And they are supposed to smell that way.
There are bacteria that live on a dog’s feet that produce that odour. And they do it by eating dog sweat. (I know. This just keeps getting weirder.) Anyway, dog’s don’t sweat through the hairy parts, only non-hairy parts like foot pads and noses. These bacteria live in the hairy parts between the foot pads, devour dog sweat (which has no odour) and produce their own odour that smells like popcorn. Or Fritos.
But the smell of a dog’s feet is actually quite pleasant. And appetizing. Human feet… maybe not so much.
I just happened to come across an article today that explained all this. I’ve often wondered why dog feet smell like popcorn. Now I know. Although it is important to note that if the feet of your dog don’t smell like popcorn, you may want to check what they have been stepping in. Most dogs don’t wear shoes.
But this started making me wonder. If bacteria makes a dog’s feet smell like popcorn, what makes popcorn smell that way?
