Why Does My Dog Roll In The Grass?

The sun is out, spring is showing it's full potential and lawn mowing season is upon us. As a home owner with a small city lawn it only takes me about 30 minutes to complete. Keeping the activity enjoyable and some what therapeutic.

I noticed my dog returned to his warm weather behavior when he started sniffing his freshly mowed kingdom. It's the same ritual every time, walk, sniff, circle, sniff, stop, drop and roll. It's actually very cute but it has left me scratching my head in curiosity.

After some internet research (that sounds more intelligent than just googling it) I discovered that there are theories but no actual evidence to support one conclusion. Dogs can trace their roots back to wolves before humans domesticated them. A wolf will leave their pack to explore and when they come across a new scent they rub their bodies against it especially around the head and neck. When they return to their pack they are greeted with full sniffs.

It has been suggested that they are sharing a location with their pack almost like a way of telling them about their day or just giving their pack a heads up about this spot and a wolf can actually find it again.

Dogs are cool.