rolling in dead stuff

[Formula86]

ok...does anyone else's dog(s) do this? or does anyone know WHY they do it?

chaquita has always smooshed her face on dead bugs she finds. then about a month ago she started rolling on them.

yesterday, jim was taking them both on a walk and chaquita was sniffing something, so jim let her sniff. then she started rolling. jim just thought it was a bug, but when he looked it was a (are you ready for this?) DEAD SQUIRREL. ugh. so we took her home and bathed her a couple times. well, tonight she's out in the yard doing whatever and she comes in and walks past me and i get a sniff of something grotesk. she rolled in god knows what and i had to bathe her 3 times just to get 90% of the smell out!

does she do this to show she's killed it? she was trying to get the smell off her in the house. do you guys think something sprayed her?

f;josiejfoaeijfsdkf is all i have to say now.

[Brittney]

Both of my Jack Russells roll in dead bugs and then they eat them. My one rolls in dead bugs, poop and pee. I learned the last two when we were at the park so I had to walk a nasty dog home.

[Scarlette]

For some odd reason dogs love that nasty smell. They think they smell pretty while we are gagging. I have never heard of dogs rolling on dead bugs though.

[FizzGiggs Mommy]

My Bichon FizzGigg L-O-V-E-S to roll in bird pooh Dogs do the weirdest stuff.

[Mallory]

For as long as I know, every dog has been fascinated with those digusting scents, like dead things, or poop, or puke, etc. It drives me nuts, especially when it's poop because, well Bean was a white dog, so she'd always have skid marks from her face back.

[EyesOfTXChins]

My boss just told me that her lab does this and it's the first I had ever heard of it. She will do it now and then in poop, and the other day she took her to a pet friendly resturant where you can sit on the porch with your dog. Her dog was on a long leash and she was having a meeting with a lady and her dog walked up to her just as PROUD as she can be smelling horrid! She had rolled on a dead bird! (My first though, err why is there a dead bird that close to where people are eating... eww). But she says its a dominance thing, like they want to take the glory of defeating (killing) it. Now the poop thing... don't ask me.
Fortunately I have a dog that doesn't do this. She will eat cat poop, but she won't umm roll in poop or dead things. I can't even get her to kill a bug!

[Tilt]

I recall the reason dogs do this is thought to be that it's an instinctive thing they get from their ancestors...the wolf. Wolves roll in things to gather the scents onto themselves so that when they return to their pack (or their pack returns) they can share their experiences with the whole group. It'd also explain why dogs love to sniff their families when their families return home. They're hoping YOU rolled in what you experienced to bring the experience home to them.

[RSbunny]

My mums dog used to love rolling on dead birds!! She used to stink sooooo bad!!!

[Formula86]

haha guys! i thought it was cause she was "proud" of it. but why would she try to get it off of her on the couch then?

they are all nutso! haha.

[dappledoxie]

Claire and Rebel do that too, lol!!

[CoopersMom]

We live on the water and we are always fishing. My husband caught a small fish and laid in the grass and went off to get more bait and forgot about it. Cooper immediately started rolling all over the fish...blech. Had to bathe him...no fishie smells in my house...uh uh.

Cheri

[tonifersangel]

. . . . lol. This is why I'm a cat person ^-^ Kitties don't roll in smelly things. I had a dog when I was really really young that used to get lose and roll in poop. . . and it was a white dog!!!! ewwie!

[Formula86]

i know guys! it's sooo gross. i hate it. and it's only chaquita. she's all black, but then again - it makes it harder to see when she's done it.

[Exotica]

my Lhasa Apso, Dogbert, he is a unique little guy...he rolls on everything. We can't let his coat grow to the floor length...because his rolling habits cause matting.
I gave him a gummy bear once. And you know what? I thought he ate it, but OH NO.. we found it STUCK IN HIS HAIR on his back! He rolled in it.
He does this with treats that he doesn't like. I don't get it. He'll eat his snuassages and Carry outs, but if I try to give him a Nutro Jerkey stick, he'll roll all over it, and won't eat the stupid thing!

[Laurie]

Cookie did this the last weekend! We were camping and she started rolling around like crazy. We found out later it was a dead bird. Yuck! It was right after she was at the groomers too. Looking so pretty and smelling so good.

She rolls on some of her treats too. We give them to her in the kicthen and takes them to the living room and rolls.