Ruff! Hey there! I am Shauna the Dalmatian! How are you today human?
I am going to teach you about our bellies today. I see you are wondering if we have belly buttons like you do.
Yours are so obvious but then again you do not have fur, it’s a wonder you aren’t always cold, I don’t know where I would be without my warm coat.
We do have belly buttons though, we, like you, are placental mammals. This means that we give birth to live babies, rather than eggs, or having a pouch.
In the womb a placental mammal relies on our moms to give us nutrition and oxygen through the umbilical cord.
Our moms will chew through the umbilical cord when we are born, and it leaves a small wound which will heal up eventually, this is our belly button.
For us, they are just scars. Rather than those weird-looking things you have.
What does a dog’s belly button look like?
Our belly buttons can be hard to identify because of where they are and how small they are. Not to mention how our fluffy coats cover them up.
If you want to find our belly button though, you can find it underneath our fur where the ‘tufts’ meet, around our bottom ribs, sometimes the fur we have around this area will be darker here.
If your dog is female, then you will be able to find her belly button between her nipples, which you will find at the bottom of her rib cage. This might seem unusual to you humans, but you are actually the ones with the weird belly buttons.
Your belly buttons are so big in comparison to any other animals, so while all placental mammals have belly buttons, most animals have small ones like us dogs do, and you humans are the weird ones.
We dogs hear you humans talking about having ‘innie’ or ‘outie’ belly buttons. Outie belly buttons are caused by an umbilical hernia, which we can have too.
So, if your dog has an outie belly button, then it may actually be easier to find than a dog with an innie belly button, it will feel like a bump on their bellies.
However, if your dog does have a belly button like this, you should probably take them to see a vet, even though we hate going there, it’s best to avoid complications.
Why do dogs show their belly?
Our bellies, where our unusual (to you) belly buttons are, are something we love to show you. You may wonder why we do this, but we think you know why.
We do this either because we want to display submissive behavior, or simply because we want a belly rub. Belly rubs are the best thing ever, if you have never had one, ask your friend. Belly rubs are the best!
If we are showing you our bellies submissively, it means that we are trying to kill the tension in the air, we are worried you may think of us as a threat and if we show you are bellies, we know you will realize we are nothing to be scared of.
If we are showing you our bellies to be submissive then you should avoid petting us, you could make us nervous because you are touching a vulnerable part of us. We enjoy belly rubs but in this instance we can get a bit nervous about it.
If we want a belly rub though, you will know it. We will be all loose and wiggly because we are excited to get a belly rub, seriously… try it. We will usually have wide open mouths and our tongues will be flapping around. Our tails might wag, because as I said, we are excited! We may pant or sound like we are laughing too.
If we are being submissive or appeasing, we might seem a bit tense. We dogs are great at picking up vibes from humans, and we know if others are nervous. We might grimace a bit too and have wide eyes, staring.
If we are feeling this way we might still wag our tails, but it is more likely our tails will be tucked or tense, we might whine a bit too.
While you may look to our tail for signals about how we are feeling, remember we use all-round body language just like you do, and our tails are just part of this.
Why is your dog licking their belly so much?
We lick everything, the world is fantastic and interesting, and we want to lick it all, including ourselves. If we are licking our bellies obsessively then this can mean that we are unhappy.
We might lick the area over until the skin or hair is gone and this is something to be concerned about. It can create a ‘hotspot’ and we might be in pain because of this.
We might do this to objects too, but if we lick our bellies too much there can be a few reasons. In fact, any obsessive licking we do is a sign to check us over. We may have allergies, dry skin, an imbalance in our hormones, pains, parasites, or we might just be really bored.
If we are obsessively licking, check that it is none of these issues before you start to worry, we could just be really bored. But, don’t let us keep doing it, or we could hurt ourselves.
Why might your dog keep smelling your belly button?
Why are you surprised that we are interested in what your belly button smells like? We enjoy sniffing everything, from other dogs urine, flowers, butts, and yes belly buttons.
If you have a belly button that has a dirt, sweat or oil build-up, yes that means if you have been to the gym, we want a sniff.
A smelly belly button has some fascinating smells and tastes for us. We want to know what’s going on in there. Our belly buttons don’t have that problem, we are curious, can you blame us?
If we are sniffing at your belly button, it might be a sign to check your hygiene in there. We are just helping!
Now you know all you need to know about our belly buttons! Oh, and don’t forget to give your dog a treat today! We love you human.
