Dogs sometimes greet people in a way that can feel incredibly awkward: they immediately push their nose toward the groin area and start sniffing.
While it can be embarrassing, the behavior usually isn’t inappropriate from the dog’s perspective. Dogs experience much of their world through scent, and that part of the human body contains particularly strong and informative smells.
Humans have apocrine sweat glands concentrated around areas including the armpits and groin. These glands produce secretions that contribute to an individual’s unique scent. With a sense of smell vastly more sensitive than ours, a dog can detect chemical information that humans would never notice.
