Dog's delight

Crossing the first field en route to the coast these past few days Raki dog has made a bee-line for the spot where there's a scatter of whitish fragments on the grass. They resemble bits of bone or shell but I took a closer look and realised that they were the remnants of an equine manicure - hoof clippings!

Raki snuffles at them and is reluctant to leave the spot. 

 An online search confirmed that these horny trimmings are known to be very popular with dogs and have in the past been offered as treats. (Some provisos now about sharpness and possible contamination.)

A  faint memory (and the pleasure of outwitting the internet) made me  check a book I've had for many years: "The Horse in the Furrow" by George Ewart Evans, devoted to the lore and customs of the men who worked with the farm horses that preceded tractors as the all-purpose agricultural traction engines. The author mined the memories of the old horse handlers who worked the land in the first half of the 20thC. and recorded this disregarded oral history in the book, published in 1960, and several others like it.

Sure enough, hoof-parings are mentioned as having the power to attract any dog.
 Keep a bit of the frog (the rubbery pressure pad in the centre of the hoof) in your pocket and you can get any dog to follow you, or manage the fiercest one you meet, said a blacksmith.  

Could this  tip assist dog-shy posties (such as ours)?
The allure of horse-hoof might divert the least friendly canine. reception.
 Raki would make an ideal subject for experimentation - she can recognize a postal worker even in civvies.