10/07/2026
Please- stop sticking your hand out for dogs to sniff.
βοΈCAN WE PLEASE STOP SHOVING OUR HANDS INTO DOGSβ FACES WHEN WE MEET THEM? βοΈ
β‘οΈItβs one of those deeply ingrained human behaviours that we rarely stop to question.
You meet a dog.
You crouch down.
You stretch your arm towards them.
And you put your hand right in front of their nose so they can βhave a sniff.β
Butβ¦ why?π€π€π€
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Dogs have an absolutely extraordinary sense of smell.
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Their noses contain hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors compared with roughly 5β6 million in humans, depending on the breed and individual dog.
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And they donβt just smell more than we do. Their brains are built to process scent information on a completely different level.
π―A dog can detect odours at astonishingly low concentrations.
π―Dogs can be trained to detect explosives, drugs, human remains, missing people and certain changes associated with disease.
π―They can follow a scent trail left behind long after the individual has gone.
π―They can gather information from where another dog has urinated.
π―They can smell who has been in an environment before them.
πAnd they were almost certainly smelling you before you were anywhere near touching distance.
So do you really think a dog youβve just met needs to have your hand shoved into their face to smell you?π³
Do you really think so?π³π³
Of course not.
πSo why do we do it?
Because weβve seen other people do it.
It happens in films and television.
Our parents did it.
Our grandparents did it.
Someone, somewhere, told us that when meeting a dog we should βhold out your hand and let them sniff you first.β
β‘οΈAnd it became one of those pieces of dog etiquette that gets passed from generation to generation without anybody stopping to ask:
Does the dog actually want this?
β οΈNow think about the interaction from the DOGβS perspective.
βΏYouβre standing there, perhaps slightly unsure of this unfamiliar person.
βΏYou already know theyβre there.
βΏYou can see them.
βΏYou can hear them.
βΏAnd you can most certainly smell them.
βΏYou might be gathering information.
βΏYou might want to approach.
βΏYou might not.
βΏYou might need another 30 seconds.
βΏYou might prefer to investigate them from behind.
βΏYou might simply want to coexist in the same space without interacting at all.
And then suddenlyβ¦
πA hand starts travelling directly towards your face.
πSometimes accompanied by a person leaning over you.
πStaring at you.
πTalking to you.
πPerhaps crouching directly in front of you and blocking your ability to move forwards.
And then, after the obligatory βsniff my handβ, what very often comes next?
π³The hand keeps travelling.
π³Straight over the dogβs head for a pat.
So from the dogβs perspective, the supposedly polite introduction can actually become:
πSTRANGER APPROACHES β STRANGER STARES β STRANGER REACHES INTO MY SPACE β STRANGER TOUCHES MY HEAD.
π€¨For a confident, highly social dog, that may be no big deal.
π€¨For a nervous, fearful, poorly socialised, pain-sensitive, reactive or simply not particularly tactile dog?
That can be incredibly uncomfortable.
And hereβs another important distinction:
β οΈSNIFFING YOUR HAND DOES NOT MEAN CONSENT TO TOUCH.β οΈ
A dog leaning forward to investigate the object youβve placed in front of them isnβt necessarily saying:
βLovely. Please stroke me now.β
They may simply be gathering information.
β οΈWe need to stop interpreting investigation as invitation.
Instead, try something much simpler.
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Do less.
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Stand naturally.
β
Turn your body slightly sideways rather than facing the dog head-on.
β
Donβt loom.
β
Donβt stare.
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Donβt reach.
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Donβt immediately crouch over them.
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Donβt call them repeatedly.
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And please donβt shove your hand towards their nose.
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Just give them space.
Let the dog decide whether they want to approach you.
If they come over and sniff your trousers, shoes or legsβ¦
ππΌπ πβπΌπ.
You donβt have to immediately reach down and touch them.
Allow them to investigate and move away again.
If they return and actively seek interaction, wonderful.
Then pay attention to their body language and continue checking whether they actually want that interaction to continue.
Because perhaps the most respectful way to meet an unfamiliar dog isnβt:
βHere I am. Smell me. Now Iβll touch you.β
Perhaps itβs:
βπ° πππ πππ. π°βππ ππππ πππ πππππ. πππ πππ π
ππππ
π ππππ πππππππ ππππ.β
Dogs spend so much of their lives having humans make decisions about their bodies.
Where they go.
When theyβre touched.
Who touches them.
When theyβre picked up.
When theyβre groomed.
When theyβre restrained.
When strangers interact with them.
We can make one tiny change.
Stop putting our hands into their faces and start giving them a choice.
Your hand isnβt helping them smell you.
πΎ Their nose was doing that perfectly well before you arrived.
