I’ll ask my brother. When our last kid moved away from home my wife and I sold our big house and moved into a small house we owned and were renting out as an investment property. But the house and the yard were too small and confining for such a big dog and he wasn’t real happy. My brother and his wife live on a large spread and the dog is happy as a dog rolling in stinky stuff. And I still get to see him at least twice a week, so it’s worked out for the best.
Our little Pug likes this little house/yard just fine, and doesn’t miss “Buster” one bit.
Being a herding dog Buster would always push the Pug around and try to dictate every move he made. Not a good thing as Pugs are otherwise spoiled rotten dogs.
Yeah, I’ve never noticed a dog doing this. My older dog just squats and shits with little fanfare. The other has his little routine: usually paces back and forth a bit (but does not turn in circles), sniffs the ground intently, with his tail waving the whole time, before he finally squats and gets down to business.
Both my dogs and many others I have seen often turn in circles and paw the ground before settling down to sleep.
Blackjack spends some time finding the best spot to do his business (*doing his business *is the proper terminlogy for this canine function). Besides spinning, he’ll roam an area with his nose to the ground looking for that spot before spinning to make sure he’s got his aim right.
The tall grass theory is oft repeated, but of course based on nothing. Dogs that now sleep or do their business in the bush could be showing the same instinctual behavior as the those who don’t, which started for reasons we have no way of establishing.
Here’s some speculation, scent seems to be a motivating force for the dog. Away from his yard, the scent of another dog’s deposit seems to compel him to produce. It may be possible that dogs who are walked or otherwise have limited time are using the scent of their own product to help overcome inertia.
It is an ancient instinct to ensure that there are no snakes hiding in the grass underneath. You can imagine what an angry snake can do to those exposed tender parts.
You just say “spin”. Do you mean that the dog looks like he is trying to corkscrew his butt into the ground? If that’s the case then his anal glands may be full and he is feeling the irritation. Taking a dump will sometimes relieve some of the pressure. For some dogs the anal glands have to be manually emptied. A groomer or vet (or yourself if you are up to it) can do the procedure.
If the dog is just walking around in circles then I don’t know. Someone once told me that dogs are the ultimate conservatives. They do things according to habit and/or from training. Maybe your dog just somehow learned and adopted the habit.
I see both those behaviors. The new one you are asking about, we call “skooching” around here, and you are correct as to why it happens.
But my dogs never skooch just as they are about to poop. If on rare occasion they leave a dingleberry, they might skooch after (for a different reason I hope is obvious), but never before.
While I don’t usually visit dog forums, much less post or reply, I felt compelled…obligated to do so in this particular case.
Nine times out of ten, a dog spins on its rear end because it has one or both ANAL GLANDS IMPACTED. This helps prevent the fecal matter from either building up in the anal glands during/after relieving itself, or helps to loosen it prior…
Zombie canines are best known for having their heads spin around.
Really though, blocked anal glands do not contain “fecal material”, but some secretion or other I prefer not to think about. And when they are not secreting properly, the dog does not spin around, or at least mine never have, but instead do the “butt walk”, where they drag their butt forward to squeeze goodies out onto your carpet.
Our Simone turns around (sometimes with frantic urgency) several times before squatting to poop. She almost always does so. Sometimes she walks forward while doing it, too, leaving a little brown archipelago in the grass.
LOL
