imho when you have 200,000,000 olfactory receptors and perceive the world predominantly by smell you probably don’t have to press your cold wet nose directly against my bare skin to get a good whiff of where I’ve been
You probably already know this (and I know this is a joke post), but the touching may be direct absorption into the vomeronasal organ!
The vomeronasal organ is probably why a dog’s nose is wet. Most animals with vomeronasal organs have wet noses, too. It is difficult for an airborne odor to land squarely on the vomeronasal organ, since it is situated in a safe, dark interior recess of the face. A hearty sniff not only brings molecules into the dog’s nasal cavity; little molecular bits also stick onto the moist exterior tissue of the nose. Once there, they can dissolve and travel to the vomeronasal organ through interior ducts. When your dog nuzzles against you, he is actually collecting your odor on his nose: better to confirm that you’re you. In this way, dogs double their methods of smelling the world.
— Alexandria Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (2009)
