Mellie is our second dog, Barley was the first one. Somewhere I had picked up that a dog's paws smell like a freshly cut grass. I took a good whiff of one of Barley's paws and I had to agree, it smelled just like a mowed lawn.
Barley was a dog of no particular smell, unless she rolled in something disgusting or unless she was wet. Did you know that kid's wet hair smells just like dog's wet fur? Try it. The smell of a dog is just a little more intense, but go figure, while we humans typically have about 200-300 cm2, dogs have more or less 2500, or about 8 to 12 times as many. No wonder a wet dog smells stronger than a wet kid.
I thought that Barley's light aroma was mostly due to the fact that she was a female. I was shocked when I noticed that Mellie, also a bitch, had a rather strong odor. So much for my theory. I investigated and found that the smell had a rather unexpected source: Mellie has smelly feet. Instead of the sweet smell of fresh-cut grass, her feet emmanate the odors of poorly rotted grass clippings in a compost pile. I was just glad that the stink was restricted to such a narrow area.
I ended up doing some more research about this topic. It appears that a dog's paws, just like his ears and anal area are studded with scent glands. Wikipedia has an entry on Dog Odor that provides a little mor detail than I do.
