# Why do dogs circle? This one is the correct answer.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 1999, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768 "1999-06-30T19:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/1 "1999-07-01T05:54:00Z")
They circle because it is instinct that in tall grass to do so is important as they are looking not to get bit by snakes. Thats right…snakes. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/2 "1999-06-30T19:33:00Z")
You’re free to believe anything you want, no extra charge. But the real true actual reason is that they circle around EXACTLY nine yards, so that’s the origin of the expression “the whole nine yards.” No, wait, I lie, the really real true actual correct reason is that their right front foot is shorter than their left front foot, and so they sort of walk in circles, thinking they’re going downhill. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/3 "1999-06-30T19:37:00Z")
Come on! We all know the next best thing to actual sex for a dog is smelling another dog’s butt. When a dog circles like that he is trying to smell his own butt. Kinda like doggy masterbation! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/4 "1999-06-30T20:12:00Z")
Hmmm… butt flavored dog food. Has possibilites. * * * “[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/5 "1999-06-30T21:04:00Z")
A common fallacy, Grog, or more accurately a half truth. Turning in a circle only immobilizes nearby snakes if done at midnight in conjunction with a full moon while swinging a dead chicken over your head and chanting “Do your work, oh Magic Chick, and turn each snake into a stick”. This conjure-du-jour brought to you by your local voo-doo doctor. * * * The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/6 "1999-06-30T21:08:00Z")
pardon my naivete, but aren’t dogs – and cats for that matter – circling to make a comfortable depression in which to lie (wait! that sentence seems to describe my last failed relationship…) At any rate, this behavior seems to make sense for sled dogs sleeping in the snow, or any animal sleeping in tall grass. Or have I missed something? * * * This space intentionally left blank ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/7 "1999-07-01T00:13:00Z")
A friend of a friend told me that wild dingoes in Australia circle in a counter-clockwise direction. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/8 "1999-07-01T00:33:00Z")
A friend of my aunt’s told her they do it because they think it’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/9 "1999-07-01T04:04:00Z")
Didn’t you, as a kid, spin around to get dizzy? It’s a natural high that dogs enjoy, too. Likewise, there are certain things that I enjoy doggie-style myself. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/10 "1999-07-01T04:17:00Z")
I don’t know about this sleeping business, but I know for a fact that dogs will circle near pay phones to warn passers-by about the HIV-laden hypodermic needles left inside the coin return slot. Alphagene ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/11 "1999-07-01T07:50:00Z")
This all looks like circular reasoning to me. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/12 "1999-07-01T08:55:00Z")
There is a bunch of dogs somewhere, logging on to this, pointing at the monitor and laughing their butts off, right now. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/13 "1999-07-01T12:52:00Z")
Mike King said: A friend of a friend told me that wild dingoes in Australia circle in a counter-clockwise direction. _What do dogs do on the equator?_ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 1999, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/14 "1999-07-01T13:29:00Z")
Dogs don’t lie down on the equator because they don’t know which way to rotate. They have to move a few feet either north or south to lie down. * * * ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/15 "1999-07-02T05:09:00Z")
I hate to stop the discussion about all this clockwise-counterclockwise Coriolis crap, but Bad Science has an article revealing how the Coriolis force is often misused in explaining certain phenomena. [http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html](http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html) * * * “[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/16 "1999-07-02T05:18:00Z")
Don’t dogs circle so they can beg a question? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/17 "1999-07-02T08:15:00Z")
On the Internet, nobody knows which way you circle. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/18 "1999-07-02T14:37:00Z")
Krish says: \<\< I hate to stop the discussion about all this clockwise-counterclockwise Coriolis crap … \>\> Um, Krish? With due respect: whoooooosh. You might checking the online dictionary under joke or humour (American: humor) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/19 "1999-07-02T16:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > You might checking the online dictionary under joke or humour (American: humor) One of the conditions of a joke, CK, is that it has to be funny! * * * “[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768/20 "1999-07-02T19:30:00Z")
RE The coriolis effect on dogs… I, for one, thought it was a rather clever and funny interjection. Gave me a giggle! 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-circle-this-one-is-the-correct-answer/1768.md?page=2)