# Does your dog do this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170 "2001-02-05T04:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mammie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Mammie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mammie)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/1 "2001-02-05T04:31:53Z")
Why do male dogs love rolling in something dead…a dead animal and do female dogs also do this? What’s the purpose and is there anyway of breaking them of doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/2 "2001-02-05T04:43:14Z")
It’s probably a residual hunting instinct. The carrion scent is non-alerting to other prey of the same type. Covering themselves with the aroma from the carcass is the equivalent of doggy camouflage. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/3 "2001-02-05T05:05:14Z")
\> Why do male dogs love rolling in something dead…a dead animal and do female dogs also do this? Female dogs also do it, or at least mine does. ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/4 "2001-02-05T05:32:29Z")
The dog (female) my mom had before the one she has now did this all the time. The really icky part was having to bathe doggy dear once you realized just where that awful smell was coming from. The same dog also believed that dead squirrels were the neatest thing ever-- she didn’t eat them, but if she found a carcass left by one of the cats, she’d play with it for days. Unless we could get it away from her and catapult it into the woods… but she’d always find it again. Same deal with the trash. We never did figure out how to break her of the habit. Shouting “No!” and pulling her away via her leash should have worked, but I swear that dog had selective hearing. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/5 "2001-02-05T06:40:16Z")
It’s doggy camouflage, as was stated above. They want to smell like something else… preferably something bigger and meaner than they are. To illustrate… I had a friend who took care of a panther for a summer. Beautiful animal. Odd diet. Raw meat, with occasional mineral oil to help with digestion. Needless to say, this animal’s excrement was like an oil slick from hell. Black, reeking stuff, which had the clinging power of a poor relative. He owned a Rottweiler. With sleek, black fur, so you could never tell whether he’d been rolling in panther doo. Until you petted him. ---
**Author:** ![Mammie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Mammie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mammie)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/6 "2001-02-05T14:20:40Z")
Now I know why. Thanks for the input. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/7 "2001-02-05T15:21:18Z")
My dog doesn’t have access to regular, smelly animal carcasses, so she kills bugs and rolls on them. ---
**Author:** ![Mammie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Mammie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mammie)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-do-this/53170/8 "2001-02-05T22:51:20Z")
Now that’s a creative dog! 🙂