Mmm, Feet… Why Do My Dogs Like Licking Me? The Attraction & Whether It's Normal

Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my five funny dogs, Poppy, Bailey, Kodah, Ned, and Fred.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that, despite having many shared food interests, dogs and humans do not always see eye to eye about what should go in one’s mouth. There are dogs that enjoy partaking in poop (or in Fred’s case, picking bits of carrot out of Bailey’s ?), cleaning other dogs’ ears (I’m looking at you, Ned), and let’s not even discuss the hours spent cleaning their nether regions! One area that many of my dogs are particularly fond of licking is our feet; Ned and Kodah in particular. Why?

With a sense of smell at least 10,000 times more powerful than our own, you would think that dogs would be repelled rather than attracted to things we find particularly stinky, but perhaps their super-sense allows them to pick up on more appealing particles that our noses miss. If that means that I continue to find smelly feet or ‘eau de poo’ repulsive, then I am happy to go through life with my comparatively handicapped olfaction.

Each to Their Own

I don’t devote a lot of time to investigating the olfactory quality of our feet, but I do know that neither Husband or I have particularly stinky tootsies, at least from what our meager sense of smell can detect. Even so, as soon as we slip our shoes off and deploy the footstools of our recliner chairs, Ned or Kodah hone in on our little piggies with the enthusiasm of the proverbial ‘chubby kid on cake.’

While I don’t particularly want to encourage this activity, I’m also reluctant to spoil their fun, so I usually allow about 30 seconds of toe licks before shooing them away (no pun intended). Husband, on the other hand, lets the foot appreciation session persist a while longer. No, he doesn’t have a foot fetish (I don’t think), nor is he trying to foster any sort of unnatural relationship between himself and the dogs (I’m pretty sure), but I actually think he just zones out.

I’m not going to lie, being that I am not ticklish, the sensation of Ned’s tiny tongue isn’t exactly an unpleasant one; sort of what you might expect from the delicate lick of a kitten until you find out that those tiny tongues actually feel like the spiky side of a velcro strip. By comparison, Kodah’s generous slurps are not quite so sweet!

What’s the Attraction?

So the big question is why are our dogs so taken with our toes? What’s behind the attraction to our arches? Their hankering for our heels? Would their adoration intensify if we started wearing sweaty synthetic shoes all day, or is our relative lack of foot odor the basis of their appeal?

It is often hypothesized that many animals enjoy licking at human skin for its somewhat salty flavor, but would our feet be the saltiest of our exposed body parts? Perhaps, but I’m not willing to find out.

Maybe it is a bond-strengthening grooming ritual? But you don’t often see dogs devoting much of their downtime to cleaning each others’ paws.

Whatever the case, I’m not particularly concerned about this little habit. Perhaps I should be more concerned – or offended – if they suddenly stop!

Do your dogs have any weird, wonderful, or adorable quirks? Let us know in the comments below.