P-mail, etc

Whenever I walk my dog she stops many times to read "p-mail." Dogs can tell a lot from the urine and feces left by other dogs. The odors let them know who the dog was, if it was male or female, juvenile or adult, in heat, altered or spayed. They can also tell if the other dog was healthy or well-fed and what it has eaten lately. They mark their territory and communicate with each other by leaving those odors.

But I'm so glad I'm not a dog! Imagine if humans had to sniff things like that or put their noses in the private parts of each other's bodies whenever we met. Yuck!

On the other hand, dogs think it's odd that humans sit close together while eating. Dogs consider eating a private function. In some households with more than one dog the pets will take turns eating from the same dish or each one has its own bowl and they don't ever interfere with the other's food. They may carry cheweys and other things that can't be swallowed in one gulp away from each other. Only close family or pack members will eat next to each other at the same time. To them, eating privately is a matter of manners.

Aren't you glad not to be a dog? I certainly am.