Why do dogs roll on their backs in the dirt and in the other stuff we don’t want them to?
Does this happen to anyone else?
You plant something new only to find your dog riveted to it, rolling on it like he’s pressing the wrinkles out of the foliage. Maybe your dog’s given himself a dust-off in the dirt after a bath. Do you wonder why?
Why do dogs roll on their backs?
Dogs roll on their backs for many reasons. One of the most obvious is to scratch an itch.
Dogs don’t have fingers or speak English, so they rely on body language to communicate their feelings. Remember reading for context clues in elementary school to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words. Please pay attention to your dog’s surroundings the next time he rolls. Also, pay mind to who else is around.
Our dog Maze adjusted to her wiley puppy companion, Malibu, over an extended period and supervised play.
Here are several reasons a dog might roll on their back
They’re feeling Playful. My bully, Maze Steam, rolled a young Japanese Maple I‘d transplanted. After a quick shimmy in the dirt and a shake-off, she was on her paws, nudging me with her giant head, looking for attention without hesitation like she’d landed a set of luxury sheets. She had me wondering what the thread count was on compost.
They are intimidated. They may roll over, exposing their belly to prove they are not a threat, reducing the chances of an unwanted encounter.
They could be issuing a warning. Rolling over because they’ve reached their peak and are frustrated could be the beginning of an alligator roll. Give your dog space to cool down and think rather than risk being bitten. Dogs, like people, have their breaking point, and biting doesn’t have to be intentional.
Why do dogs roll in the yucky stuff?
Maybe it’s instinct. Maybe they are born with it. Wolves and coyotes mask their scent. By rolling around in yucky stuff, animal carcasses, you name it, your dog may be covering his own. Prey won’t pick up on his scent and run.
Maybe they like to wear it as if they own it. Roll around in the filthy stuff, and you become the new sheriff in town. It is unlikely that encroachers will flood this guy’s property.
Yucky is better. It’s full of pheromones, chemical messengers that convey information to your dog. You and I won’t pick up on pheromones, and thank goodness!
Pheromones excreted in bodily fluids and breast milk convey messages to your dog.
An evaporated stream on a mailbox invites interaction. Dog telecommunications lags behind cell phones, but dogs have found a way to communicate by post without using the latch.
Breast milk has appeasement pheromones to encourage bonding between mama and her young.
Even the stuff the birds haven’t picked over is a doggy decoding puzzle with top-secret messages.
Pheromones are everywhere! Top-secret messages are fun to decode. Why not roll across town?
Read more about canine body language in my earlier post- Is your dog feeling stressed.