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I went camping... in an old van that I'd converted to a camper van.
I love working... writing that is... outdoors... so... I went camping!
There were few... if any... places to park... in the shade... in Cortez.
Oh, there were several very nice parks... with tables in the shade...
but I liked to sit in my camper van on my cot... out of the wind...
when I worked on my writing projects.
As luck would have it... there was a park on the edge of town
by a small fishing lake... with trees shading the parking area.
So... I picked a spot and sat... with a nice cool breeze blowing
through the van... listened to some Sunday programs on the radio...
and worked on an essay.
After a long while... I took a break for exercise... down to the lake.
People were now setting up picnics at the shelters scattered around.
As I passed a shelter close to the road... two chiwawa dogs...
...who cares how it's spelled... ran up to me and began yapping.
Too much noise!!! What a god-awful nuisance it was. Such yapping
can be bad survival technique for a mini watch dog.
One guy called for them to "come" and they went to him...
but then turned and ran right back at me to continue their yapping!!
Then a larger dog... a collie mix... sneaked from behind me...
reached his nose around... and sniffed right at my crotch.
So sneaky he was!! I kicked my knee up at it... and backed off.
Well... I happen to not like this crotch sniffing routine that dogs do.
I usually mention this to the dog owner. I'll say something like
"I don't like dogs sniffing at my crotch,
if you don't mind"...
and the common reaction is... "oh, that's just what dogs do."
Uh... ya... I know that much... if it hasn't been trained properly.
Not long before this... I had camped at a free forest camp...
and another camper... a woman... let her dog run freely among the
camp sites. Then, too, the dog ran towards me to sniff my crotch.
I said something to the woman... "call your dog off."
She laughed... like it was so funny when dogs do this to strangers...
like this was normal accepted behavior. Nobody ever asks,
"Do you mind if my dog wipes his nose on your crotch?"
Later, hikers came through with several dogs running freely...
out for a fun day at the camp... and the woman's dog was feeling
playful. It bounded over to the other dogs... and instantly began
trying to sniff each one's ass. Then... as a doggy courtesy, I suppose...
turned and stuck her own ass right in the dogs' faces.
Well... one of the dogs didn't want its ass sniffed and it began running
to get away from the playful animal. As the two dogs ran madly in
circles around the camp sites... with the one dog desperately trying to
escape the unwelcome advances of the other... the group watching
laughed and joked about it. No one tried to stop this.
The belief seems to be... this is how dogs get to know each other...
All this sniffing of the ass... is dog talk for "nice to know ya"
or "here's who I am... who are you?" and so sniffing human
crotches must also be a sign of friendship.
I have seen this all of my life.
I began to think seriously about this quandary.
Was I being unreasonable?
Should I just act like one of the dogs
and let other dogs sniff my crotch
as a friendly sign of "how do you do"...?
I needed to come to terms with this.
I felt human compassion for that reluctant little dog.
Maybe the little dog DIDN'T WANT to be sniffed...???
hmmmm....??? hmmmm....???
I wondered about the logic of it all.
What is accomplished when one dog sniffs another dog's ass...?
Can they smell what kind of food the other eats...?
Do they recognize urine when they sniff every tree...?
Is this done to verify the sex of the other dog...?
to check if the other dog is in heat...?
just in case they had a mating "inclination"???
and could immediately begin mating, as well?
If a dog was "fixed" what purpose would it serve, then...??
I wondered... have dogs always done this sniffing routine...?
or is this like a doggy custom that began long, long ago...
with one rude dog doing it, and...
as dogs associated with each other...
the bad habit got passed on to all the other dogs... ?
and so all it really is... is LEARNED behavior...?
and not NATURAL behavior...?
If the custom had been to sit politely and smile at the other...
then would all the dogs do THAT as an introduction...?
instead of SNIFFING THE ASS...?
Oh, me... oh, my...
why don't people train their dogs to shake hands...?
like CIVILIZED people do... ??
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