Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogeldam, and you probably don't go around smelling
Speaker 1: dog's feet all the time, But even if you did,
Speaker 1: or even only on occasion, the odor might remind you
Speaker 1: of something crunchy. As it turns out, there are many
Speaker 1: dogs of all breeds and sizes whose feet smell like
Speaker 1: corn chips or popcorn. Some say or not show flavored
Speaker 1: tortilla chips. Although the smell and its interpretations vary, most
Speaker 1: people who sniff their pets odiferous feet are convinced their
Speaker 1: nostrils are picking up some kind of crunchy snack for rietal,
Speaker 1: I think the corn chip brand Freedo's in particular. But
Speaker 1: why it has everything to do with micro organisms. The
Speaker 1: average human body comprises thirty trillion cells and is topped
Speaker 1: by skin covered by forty trillion bacteria, but this ratio
Speaker 1: maybe even greater. For dogs in particular, the nooks and
Speaker 1: crannies of dog paws pick up actino bacteria from soil,
Speaker 1: where the bacteria lives and multiplies. Most of a dog's
Speaker 1: apple green glands or sweat glands are concentrated in the
Speaker 1: pads on their feet. These pads are surrounded by fur
Speaker 1: and create damp and warm crevices that become an excellent
Speaker 1: breeding ground for all kinds of bacterial growth. With all
Speaker 1: this reproduction comes a number of accompanying smells, most of
Speaker 1: which are related to yeast and bacterial byproducts. You know,
Speaker 1: micro organism poop. East and bacterial poop is responsible for
Speaker 1: a lot of the sense we encounter, from unpleasant body
Speaker 1: odor to the attractive smells in wine, bread, and cheese.
Speaker 1: So which bacteria cause your dog's feet to smell like
Speaker 1: a snack? Yeast? For one, Yeast loves to thrive in warm,
Speaker 1: wet environments, and so do bacteria called pseudomonas, which emit
Speaker 1: an odor that many people interpret as popcorn. The real
Speaker 1: culprit in that corn chip smell, though, are proteus bacteria,
Speaker 1: which emit a scent like slightly sweet corn tortillas, which
Speaker 1: seems to intensify after dogs sleep, possibly because the heat
Speaker 1: generated by a sleeping dog encourages bacterial activity. Even if
Speaker 1: you're not a fan of corn chip paws of some
Speaker 1: pet owners called the odor freedo feet, your health may
Speaker 1: benefit from exposure to doggy bacteria. Studies have shown that
Speaker 1: pregnant women who own dogs have babies with a more
Speaker 1: diverse microbiome, and the children who grow up around pets
Speaker 1: aren't as prone to suffer from allergies. Most researchers agree
Speaker 1: that exposure to a greater number of microbes enhances immune
Speaker 1: system functions. No word yet on whether simply inhaling those
Speaker 1: microbes and their byproducts by huffing puffy pause does the
Speaker 1: trick can't hurt though right. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Laurie L. Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other smelly topics, visit our
Speaker 1: home planet, how stuff works dot com.