Surely on more than one occasion you have been walking with your beloved dog and suddenly, when passing over a garden area he has lain down and scrubbed on the grass, as if he were making the croquette. That a dog rolls on the grass is a totally natural behavior that should not worry us.
Although they do not only do it on the grass, sometimes they are rubbed or stirred on dirt roads or even, much to our regret, on excrement or dead animals. Everything has a meaning although we may not understand it at that time, that’s why from Dogsis.com we are going to explain the reason why our dogs do this type of thing.
Index of contents
- 1 Reasons why a dog scrubs on the grass
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- 1.0.1 Rolling on the grass to cool off
- 1.0.2 Scrubbing on the grass to remove or catch odor
- 1.0.3 Rolling on the grass to calm the itch
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- 2 Why does my dog wallow in excrement and dead animals?
Reasons why a dog scrubs on the grass
You will be surprised to know the reasons why your dog rubs himself on the grass with his back, as if he were rubbing or giving himself a massage. When he does, look at his face, you will see that he has a gesture of satisfaction and joy. And is that dogs love to roll on the grass.
There are three main reasons why a dog wallows on the grass: smell, heat and itchiness. Let’s go over them one by one so you can identify why your dog is doing it.
Rolling on the grass to cool off
We all know that dogs have a large amount of fur that covers them, visible hair that we can see and caress and another less visible coat that is generally shorter and more woolly.
In addition to hair, dogs generally have between one and two centimeters of fat on their entire body, something that helps them fight the cold. So imagine how hot a dog can be when he exercises or when spring or summer arrives.
Dogs wallow in the grass to cool off, usually looking for areas where the ground is wet and the grass is cool. When scrubbing on the grass, the exterior body temperature, that of the hair and the fat drop several degrees, thus cooling.
Scrubbing on the grass to remove or catch odor
Dogs have an incredibly developed sense of smell, no human can even remotely understand how developed he is. This implies that dogs detect thousands of odors that humans are unable to smell.
When we bathe our dog, we leave behind the smell of the soap we use. When we put a pipette or antiparasitic collar on it, the same thing happens. Dogs scrub on the grass to get rid of those little-liked smells.
On the other hand, if the grass contains the smell of another dog or animal, which is attractive to them, they will rub on it to catch that smell. It is a very curious way of perfume, in their own way.
Rolling on the grass to calm the itch
This aspect may or may not be serious, if our dog is itchy it is normal to rub his back on the grass to calm him down. It is a very subtle way of scratching since its legs cannot access its entire back.
However, if our dog has a skin problem due to an infection or allergy, the itch will be very insistent and annoying so our dog will rub on the grass to alleviate it. But in this situation, we must go to a vet to find the source of the problem and solve it.
Why does my dog wallow in excrement and dead animals?
The answer is very simple, dogs not only smell the foul smell that we humans perceive of a dead animal or excrement. They also perceive a great variety of smells that attract them a lot.
What they do is scrub their necks and backs over the droppings or dead animals to capture those odors and keep them in their bodies. Although it is repulsive to us, they love it and really believe that it will smell much better that way.
We simply have to scold our dog when he does this and then bathe him to eliminate that bad smell. In this way and with a lot of patience, they will stop doing it over time.
What seems repulsive to us, seems to them an exquisite aroma. You should not be excessively angry with your dog for doing this, just a little to let him know that it does not seem as good an idea to us as it does to him.