DOGS

I walked around the lake at lunch yesterday.  As usual, most of the other walkers were walking their dogs.  This park has a fenced-in area you can let your dog run loose but many prefer to just take them around the walk/jog path. 

As I was passing the "bark park", a man was entering with a middle aged golden retriever.  There were about a dozen dogs in the area at that time.  Half of them raced to the entrance gate as the new dog was let in.  Each had to check out the newcomer.  Some stick their nose up under the tail.  Some go straight under the belly in front of the rear leg.  I got to thinking.  "What are they doing?  Are they trying to determine the sex of the dog or is there more to it?  If dogs have such a great sense of smell, why do they have to get so close?  Do they want to know if it had been neutered?  Do they want to know if it is healthy?  What if people had to do it that way?"  I'm thnking about this.  I don't quite see it in black and white - only in shades of grey.
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