Just Gross

They do it because it disguises their own scent and it is a basic instinct inherited from their wolfish beginnings. Remember that dogs hunt in packs and approach the prey down wind so that their presence is not smelled. Probably in the wild they roll themselves in the dung of the animals they are hunting, thus confusing the poor creatures. You can't prevent them doing this, all you can do is see the stinky stuff first and take evasive action. Our domestic dogs have sacrificed much of their fun in order to be fed and sheltered and cared for, so if once in a while they have the pleasure of a good roll how can we begrudge them this?

HOW CAN WE BEGRUDGE THEM THIS? Are you kidding? Rolling around in oozing, green dog diarrhea is something I will always begrudge any animal. If they could wash themselves then that would be fine. But they can't.

Well, that explains it, a bit, although I still can't picture my cocker spaniel thinking of a massive show horse as "prey", no matter how far I stretch my imagination. I grew up in a city but we had a neighbor who owned this beautiful Palamino and raised it on his property. My dog would bypass dozens of houses with all kinds of wildlife to get into this horse's corral and roll around in it's poop. Then, of course, he'd come home and stink up the entire house until one of us threw him in the bathtub and gave him a good scrub. This was way back before leash laws and the entire neighborhood knew our dog as he was an incredibly friendly sort who loved to spend his days visiting the neighbors so we could not begrudge him his freedom in that respect but always hated it when he'd come home stinking of horse paddies. Eww.

Since she's past many a poop pile in her two years on earth and never eaten or rolled in it I was taken off guard when she rolled around in that mess the other day. But subsequent days I've been on her like nothing else. She can't get near anything suspicious looking without me shooing her away from it. I'm too scared she'll try to roll in it.

At least you are understanding a behavior and you can nip it.

That's a much better answer than I got from someone else. They simply said, because they're dogs!

I assure you, however bad you think it was, it was worse!

What in the world did you do?! I don't know what I would do if I saw my dog or any dog swallow one of their own puppies. My friend had a rabbit once that had babies. The dad rabbit bit the heads off four of them.

It was not a human's.