Are You an Ear Sniffer? Your Dog Will Thank You for It by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
Hey, don’t be embarrassed. Admit it. You sniff your dog’s ears, right?
A lot of us do. And if you don’t, you should.
Taking
a good deep whiff of your pooch’s radar dishes on a regular basis
could help you diagnose infection, fungus, or other problems. Knowing
how those ears smell when all is well in there is important, so that a
different odor will tip you off when something’s not.
Your
dog’s aural organs are miracles of evolution, providing him with
a sound-detection range estimated to be several times wider than yours.
He uses that sensory super power to protect you, holding those amazing
listening devices on constant alert to warn you of intruders and all
manner of other dangers.
Not to mention making sure you never open a box of cookies or a bag of chips without his immediate offers of assistance.
To help keep those furry receivers in perky, tip-top shape, go for it—stick your nose right where it belongs.
Fido
might think you’re weird, but hey, when has he ever passed up a
chance to sniff your ears? Or your mouth, or feet, or pits,
or… ahem… OK, we won’t go there…
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton,
and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications
such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and
Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The
Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog
(The Lyons Press). Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and
a lifelong interest in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time
battling a severe addiction to dogs.
