there are a several reasons a dog would do this:

she is trying to cover her scent with that of something else(hunting instinct). or she thinks she smells bad and wants to tone it down. or she really likes the way it smells, feels and wee hee it sure is fun....

have you bathed her in some nice smelling shampoo or sprayed her with anything like a flea spray or doggie deodorizer. things that we think smell nice may be overpowering to a dogs nose. their capacity to smell odor is far greater than ours. dog shampoo should be something that is more natural with no artificial scents or colors. and baths should only be when absolutely necessary - too many baths can strip the oil off her coat - which might make her itchy and want to roll in something too.

if you havent over bathed or put anything odoriferous on the dog - then she is just trying to cover her own scent or is having fun...if you dont want her to do this you can correct the behavior if she is on leash -

my hound dog does this alot - we live on the river and its not uncommon for him to try and come into the house with some greasy dead fish parts stuck to the middle his back. arent dogs great ;-) if its not too bad, i brush him thoroughly and sprinkle a tiny bit of baking soda on him and work that in with the brush... thats my temporary fix to hold us over until he gets a bath.

I figured it was something along these lines. I haven't bathed her at all (she was just spayed just 10 days ago and couldn't get her stitches wet for 10 days). I have corrected her with the leash, but wondered if maybe I was missing something.

We took care of my aunt's dog for 9 months so I suspect that she is trying to cover the scent of my aunts dog, who spent time in our yard as recently as 2 1/2 weeks ago.

I'll keep the baking soda in mind for future needs, Thanks! (Thank goodness we won't be getting dead fish parts at the door - eeewww yuck!)

~P

My dogs all roll in -------- bird poop.... or.......
worms . If one finds something to roll in -- the other 2 go right over there and roll in it too. LOL I've always wondered what it is that they find so attractive to bird doo and worms. I don't complain - it could be ALOT worse !!
Thanks for asking the question - now I understand a little better !

Our Cocker rolls in all sorts of stuff. I think it's funny. My wife says "stop that rolling or you'll get a bath". I think Casey says "you dummie, I'm rolling cause of the last bath I got!" Ha-Ha

They roll in stinky stuff to hide their own scent from their prey. That's the most common thing I've read. It's annoying. My dog doesn't roll in bird doo - he wants to EAT it. Dogs are so gross sometimes!

Yea, I've noticed her trying to eat stuff in our yard too - I'm pretty sure there's nothing edible back there (not that I've been foraging in the yard for food lately).

YUCK!

BTW, Here's the rascal being well behaved:

{{!gwi}}

OOOH! She's so pretty! My dogs would roll in nasty stuff if they had a chance, but our small backyard gives them few chances. Luckily, they also roll in nice smelling stuff - grasses or weeds, or whatever. Sometimes it can be quite pleasant.

Be careful about her rolling. My dog loved to roll too until he rolled in some battery acid that some a**hole dumped on the side of the path I used to walk my dog. At first I just thought it was just a dead something he rolled on (it stunk to high heaven) and immediately took him to the bathtub. An hour later I noticed that he started whimpering and nearly took off my DH's hand when he tried to pet his back. On a close look we discoverd that his whole back was being "eaten" by something and he was starting to lose fur. Needless to say that we went immediatly to the vet. My poor dog lost nearly all of his fur on his back and had open weeping pock marks where the acid was litterally eating him alive. It was horrible. After extensive and expensive treatments he finally healed 6 months later and 1 year later his fur slowly grew back in.
I'm sure that rolling in your yard can be great fun but beware of what he rolls in anywhere else.

Karen

What a cutie!

Pashan---she's beautiful.

nookie---what a horrible story. That poor animal!

I love those freckles!

Thanks for the compliments - I think she is beautiful too, but I am rather partial :-)

We went out tonight after I got home from a long night at work, about midnight. I took her out to "do her business" and she wanted to run and play so I took her leash off and let her run around. Of course, she went over between the shed and the fence (where I don't normally let her go). It was dark but I could tell she was rolling around (ewww) so I had to physically pull her outta there. Then she found a spot in the yard she was just insisting on rolling in so I releashed her and brought her in. SHE SMELLS AWFUL NOW! At first I didn't think it was poo of anykind, it smelled more a dead animal. I sprayed her with some "Nature's Miracle" spray and dander remover and brushed her but I swear I can still smell it. My DH is going to just die when we come to bed. I certainly don't have the time or energy for a bath tonight...

Tomorrow morning we will embark on a new journey with Lexi - her first bath!! :-)

Thanks again for the compliments, she is as soft as she looks in the picture too, by the way.

~P

One of my goldens looooved to roll in dog sh*t.

There was a Gary Larson (Far Side) cartoon with a poodle at the front door of another dog. He was picking her up for a date and he was complimenting her (paraphrase), "Ginger, you smell awful tonight! What did you roll in?"

Just a tip on giving your dog a bath. If you don't have one already do get a rubber bath mat to place in the tub. It gives the dog some grip rather than have its paws sliding out from under it and can make even a nervous dog calm down a bit in many cases.

Oooh, a Border Collie mix. Have you ever read any of Jon Katz's books? He's written a couple about his border collies, one very recently. They are intense working dogs who are bread to herd sheep. It might be good to educate yourself, if you haven't already, about that breed and spaniels.

I really enjoyed those books, and gained a newfound appreciation for herding dogs.

cocooner

What a PRETTY baby you have! My daughter's half Australian Shepard, half either Border Collie or Cocker Spaniel---the people I got her from weren't certain, and honestly she has some traits in common with both! She looks a lot like your baby, except her ears are VERY pricked and she's spottier.

She's 12 years old now, and had a bath a couple of hours ago. While she's never learned to LIKE having a bath, she tolerates it VERY well, and her post-bath behaviour betrays the fact that ir really DOES make her feel better---not that she'd ever want ME to know that. (*grin*)

I think the rolling thing is just part of the fun of being a dog.

Training, training, training! I can't emphasize the importance of taking her to obedience class. :) It will be good for you and for her! :) I know how smart Border Collies are supposed to be and they need "work" or they can be somewhat mischievous (friends of mine have two and have shared storiesÂ) so training is really good. I took my Shih Tzu to training, after having private lessons first (I wanted to have certain things worked on at home). Well, we had so much fun together that we went for THREE YEARS!! (My mom asked, "Did Tif flunk school?" "No, mom, we just have a lot of fun each Saturday!") You meet a lot of interesting people and it is great for socializing your dog as well. And, later, when you want her to be off-leash and she goes into something you don't want her in, instead of dragging her away, you can simply use a command. :)

PS: Get DH to go with you as well. My DH didn't go ("That's your thing, hon") and as a result, little T tends not to listen to daddyÂwell, he IS a marshmallow when it comes to his little girl after allÂ) :)

I realize this is a very old thread but I really enjoyed reading it. We have a Maltese (all white). We were getting ready to do a road trip one weekend and I put him out for a just in case. He had been bathed and brushed and ready to go. He came in and was black from ear to ear. I don't know what he found but it sure did stink. He seemed really proud of his find. Needless to say I keep waterless bath spray on hand at all times.

I'd prefer not to bring Lexi back in the house after she's been rolling in something nasty... ewwwww!

In some dog book I read the author posited that primates (humans, for instance) like flowery and fruity smells because they lead us to food. He also imagined that dogs, being scavengers, like rotting odors and scat because they lead to appropriate doggy food and prey.

Therefore, Lexi is greatly offended by our flowery air fresheners, and would appreciate it if we switched to New Glade Offal scent! Or, try the new dual scent plugin with Rotting Squirrel and Litter Box. [wicked grin]

But if you want to launder Lexi, try a baby shampoo (for mildness) that is relatively scentless, mixed with some baking soda to neutralize the order.

New Glade Offal scent *hehehe*