# dogs going in circles **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610 "1999-12-28T04:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/1 "1999-12-28T04:26:00Z")
i don’t know if this has been posted already, if so, forgive me. but does anybody have any idea as to why dogs circle over and over and… before they lay down? * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/2 "1999-12-28T04:28:00Z")
Last I heard, the speculation was that the animal developed the behavior while trying to sleep in grass. Circling pushes down the grass and makes it more comfortable. (Cats do this, too, BTW). * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/3 "1999-12-28T05:10:00Z")
Q. Why do dogs turn round three times before sitting down? A. Because one good turn deserves another! Bahahahahahaha! Not. I never got that joke because the significance of turning round _three_ times was never addressed in the answer. Totally annoyed me. I’m sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Oh, and the answer to the OP is: because they can. (Or is that from another dog joke?) * * * **-PIGEONMAN-** Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Back in the new year!** Honest. I promise. No, really. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/4 "1999-12-28T05:37:00Z")
no, no… they lick their butt **because they can** 🙂 * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/5 "1999-12-28T05:43:00Z")
This topic came up several months ago. The thread soon degenerated into an arguement over whether or not dogs north of the equator turned clock-wise and dogs in the southern hemisphere turned counter clock-wise. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/6 "1999-12-28T06:10:00Z")
Have you ever watched those on the equator do somersaults? Ray (Well, isn’t that what you call circular logic?) ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/7 "1999-12-28T13:10:00Z")
Actually I believe it was balls rather than butt but maybe it’s different in your neck of the woods. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/8 "1999-12-29T06:10:00Z")
RealityChuck, That would explain crop circles then! Although your answer is the same that I have heard. And I have witnessed my cats doing the same thing to. Nanobyte, Thanks for the laugh! ---
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-going-in-circles/5610/9 "1999-12-29T06:59:00Z")
Konrad Lorenz wrote a lot about dogs’ and birds’ behavior, and I recommend his books to everyone who wants to understand how a dog’s mind works. It’s really amazing what complex behavior can be encoded in one’s genes. (E.g., birds are born knowing how to build a nest, which is a pretty sophisticated process.) Makes me wonder how much of our (human) behavior is determined by our genes.