What does scratching my dog's tummy do?

Helen - Well, I think you might have gathered from me earlier in the programme, I'm actually a cat person. So, I really don't know. Chris - Do cats do that because you know what he's getting at? When you rub a dog's tummy, his legs starts to go.

Helen - I think that you can get that point. There was a point in a cat where you can get that back leg thing where it looks a bit like a rabbit

Chris - What is that all about?

Helen - I don't know actually. I really don't know. Sorry, Chris.

Chris - Does anyone else knows what this is all about?

Ramsey - I would just assume you were hitting a nerve like bashing your knee and making your foot kick out.

Chris - One theory is that this sort of reaction, if you look at where your tickly bits are, they're also your most vulnerable bits. And so, some people have argued that it's a way of drawing your attention to where your vulnerable bits are so that when you're fighting, you can defend yourself because you learn these various manoeuvres to avoid getting those bits exposed. So, if you make it fun because when you're tickling someone and sort of going for the vulnerable bits, you learn to not make those bits accessible so that when you do need to do something that isn't play fighting, you know how to best defend those bits. It seems plausible, doesn't it?

Ramsey - Yes, it is. Especially lots of litters of cats and dogs play fight all the way through their little years and stuff and so, it certainly seems plausible.