My dog smells like a corn dog.

And I’m not particularly sure why.

I walked into my bedroom earlier to grab my pair of Slipper Socks “with grippers” that I won at the company Christmas party last weekend. Ok, I didn’t really win them. Someone else did and decided I needed them more since they were a little girly. Plus they wouldn’t fit his big toe much less his feet. I had actually forgotten about them but remembered tonight when I noticed my toes turning blue due to my cold house. If I ever move, remind me to get an insulated house.

So there I was fetching my new blue socks. While I was trying to break the plastic tag thingy with my teeth, I noticed a smell. At first I wasn’t able to locate the source. I walked around… sniff… sniff… sniff. The smell was strangely familiar, yet out of place. Corn dogs? Do I smell corn dogs?

My mind raced through all the possibilities.

The only thing I “cooked” tonight was a pot of water for my hot chocolate. To my knowledge boiled water doesn’t have a corn dog smell. Plus, I don’t normally boil my water in my bedroom. I even stood under the air vent to see if it was the heater. Negative.

As I stood there in the middle of the room scratching my head pondering this weird corn-dog-smell-phenomenon, Pepper stood up, twirled in a few circles, rearranged her blanket and then settled back into her tight curled up position. I’ve watched her do this for nearly 16 years and it always makes me smile. Watching her do her thing. Watching her be a dog. Becoming a little sentimental, I knelt down to give the princess her daily quota of lovin. The kind where I cradle her head in my hands, rub our faces together and sprinkle her nose and squinted eyes with a million kisses.

Well, let’s just say I started to…

As our faces got closer, I realize immediately what it is that smells like corn dogs: Pepper. I would like to say for the record, I have never noticed her smelling like this. Consider me perplexed. Baffled. Corn dogs?

Do old dogs get a smell like old people? If so, is the scent normally comparable to fair food? When I wash her will this smell go away or have I now entered the next phase of doggie geriatrics? Is there an anti-corn-dog-odor pill that she can take for this?

Since it’s too cold tonight, tomorrow will be bath day. But wait… that means tonight I will be sleeping in the same room with a dog that smells like corn dogs.

I’m not really sure I can do that.