As adorable as our furry babies maybe, why they choose to roll around in their own filth is one of nature’s grossest mysteries. It’s even worse when they come out smelling so clean and fresh right after a bath, and in a few seconds, they run outside to roll in the smelliest thing they can find.
Poop and smells
The reason for this behavior is their extremely keen sense of smell. Since dog noses are much more sensitive than ours, they can detect more layers in a scent. Any perfume maker would tell you that a scent is made up of multiple layers called notes.
It takes a very powerful nose to distinguish one odor from another. This may be why dogs are attracted to smells that our noses usually find repulsive; they can smell something more to it that we can’t identify.
Marking their territory…
It may also be a way to mark their territory. Urinating on something is one way a dog lets other dogs know, through smell, that they’ve claimed an object as theirs. If your dog rolls around in another dog’s feces, it may be trying to override the other dog’s scent by leaving their own.
Using scents to communicate has evolved into a canine language. By coating their bodies with scents from different places, dogs can ‘carry’ the smell home to bring information back to the rest of their pack.
Or not.
However, the opposite could also be true. Instead of trying to enhance their personal scent, dogs may use foul, strong odors as camouflage. While hunting, wolves would use this technique to mask their scents so that their prey wouldn’t sense them coming. It’s possible this behavior emerges in pet dogs because of evolution.
No reason at all?
Lastly, your dog might enjoy rolling around in poop for no interesting reason at all. This behavior may simply be a sign of a bored pup, just like chewing on shoes and digging holes on your lawn. Not only this, but they also have a weird habit of eating poop sometimes.
How to respond best, then? It is to play with your dog so that they remain stimulated. Keep them distracted so that you can keep them clean!
Some of the other related posts that you might like:
– Why do dogs eat cat poop?
– Why do dogs lick their paws?
