Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Boglebomb here with another classic episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1: In this one, we discuss what causes the gloriously snack
Speaker 1: like scent of a dog's pause. If you happen to
Speaker 1: not be a fan, we won't hold it against you, though,
Speaker 1: Just more puppy pause for the rest of us. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and you probably don't
Speaker 1: go around smelling dog's feet all the time, But even
Speaker 1: if you did, or even only on occasion, the odor
Speaker 1: might remind you of something crunchy. As it turns out,
Speaker 1: there are many dogs of all breeds and sizes whose
Speaker 1: feet smell like corn chips or popcorn. Some say or
Speaker 1: not show flavored tortilla chips. Although the smell and its
Speaker 1: interpretations vary, most people who sniff their pets odoriferous feet
Speaker 1: are convinced their nostrils are picking up some kind of
Speaker 1: crunchy snack. For rietal, I think the corn chip brand
Speaker 1: Freedo's in particular. But why it has everything to do
Speaker 1: with microorganisms. The average human body comprises thirty trillion cells
Speaker 1: and is topped by skin covered by forty trillion bacteria.
Speaker 1: But this ratio may be even greater for dogs. In particular,
Speaker 1: the nooks and crannies of dog paws pick up actinobacteria
Speaker 1: from soil, where the bacteria lives and multiplies. Most of
Speaker 1: a dog's apacrene glands or sweat glands, are concentrated in
Speaker 1: the pads on their feet. These pads are surrounded by
Speaker 1: fur and create damp and warm crevices that become an
Speaker 1: excellent breeding ground for all kinds of bacterial growth. With
Speaker 1: all this reproduction comes a number of accompanying smells, most
Speaker 1: of which are related to yeast and bacterial byproducts. You know,
Speaker 1: microorganism poop. Yeast and bacterial poop is responsible for a
Speaker 1: lot of the sense we encounter, from unpleasant body odor
Speaker 1: to the attractive smells in wine, bread, and cheese. So
Speaker 1: which bacteria cause your dog's feet to smell like a snack? Yeast?
Speaker 1: For one, Yeast loves to thrive in warm, wet environments,
Speaker 1: and so do bacteria called pseudomonis, which emit an odor
Speaker 1: that many people interpret as popcorn. The real culprit in
Speaker 1: that corn chip smell, though, are proteus bacteria, which emit
Speaker 1: a scent like slightly sweet corn tortillas, which seems to
Speaker 1: intensify after dogs sleep, possibly because the heat generated by
Speaker 1: a sleeping dog encourages bacterial activity. Even if you're not
Speaker 1: a fan of corn chip pause, if some pet owners
Speaker 1: call the odor freedo feet, your health may benefit from
Speaker 1: exposure to doggy bacteria. Studies have shown that pregnant women
Speaker 1: who own dogs have babies with a more diverse microbiome,
Speaker 1: and that children who grow up around pets aren't as
Speaker 1: prone to suffer from allergies. Most researchers agree that exposure
Speaker 1: to a greater number of microbes enhances immune system functions.
Speaker 1: No word yet on whether simply inhaling those microbes and
Speaker 1: their byproducts by huffing puffy pause does the trick. It
Speaker 1: can't hurt though right. Today's episode is based on the
Speaker 1: article why your dog's pause smell gloriously like corn chips
Speaker 1: on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Lareel Dove. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of My Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
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