I'm concerned w / "max"

[Rich]

I need your perspective and/or help ...."max" is doing awesome,fantastic and so puppylike since the surgery from having his leg amputated ...yet in the last 2 days and one other time about 3 months ago "max" has literally rolled in poop ( clueless as to who or what animal it belongs to ) this is now 3X and i am becoming real concerned in that why does he do this and i mentioned to my wife if she thinks it has to do with the cancer ( spindell cell ) and if it's begining to effect him psychologically therefore "acting out" ( although back in july when he rolled in poop my wife went in for major surgery for female issues ) i think that one time was clearly behavioral and if he did not do it since it would no longer be an issue for me, keep in mind he has done it 2X in the last 3 days,


I'm not sure what / why or what's possessing him to do such a thing, Lisa , my wife is a vet tech and works in a animal hospital and even she has no idea why "max" is doing this ....although , and i will finish up here because this really bothers and freaks me out ....my nickname in the Navy was "squeeky" ,....i took so many showers , Lisa thinks it's insticntual therefore embedded in them.

Any help would be of great help.

Rich

[ursula wilby]

It is quite normal for some dogs to roll in either dead animals or (as in your case) poop. I have had ones that would roll in just about anything and ones that have been very picky and just go for one particular type (can be human poop as well). So NO ACTING OUT, and certainly nothing wrong with Max!
He just likes the smell!

There are several explanations given for this but they are all guesses and so: We dont know WHY dogs roll in poop, but it is natural and has absolutly no conection to the cancer.
My guess is that he has come across a type he has not come across before and its a truly wonderful smell for Max, so he cant resist:-)
All part of owning a dog!

[Rich]

I wish it was "normal" at least i dont think it is........personally i think it's ABSOLUTELY RIVOTLING" ...i can promise you one thing .....he will never again get the chance to roll in poop if i have anything to say about it......each time he did this it was where i take him to run free off leash in the empty , yet massive,parking lot........to avoid this............no more running free in the parking lot.........period.

Rich

[ursula wilby]

It may not be normal to you Rich, but then Max happens to be a dog.
And plenty of things you get up to would be pretty ab-normal for Max to do! :-)

Considering WHERE he ended up rolling, sounds like human poop to me. And yes some dogs will go for that.
And yes it is revolting, but then dogs are dogs and as you see by the comments added, Max is certainly not the only one!

I take walks along some very isolated beaches in the winter and allways worry I may one day come across a dead body (no, it has not happenend yet). But if it does, the thought has struck me...will my dogs try to chew it or roll in it?
Ok, so I am a bit peculiar..! :-)

[Sharyn Latchford]

Most dogs will roll in some thing "yummy smelling "to them....I was always told it was to disguise their scent.....who knows...but most will do this if given the chance.......One of mine, Henna, absolutely adores rolling in Hedgehog poop......really yucky and green!!!!!........and its smells revolting.................I just try and keep them away from such delights!!!!...

Sharyn
NZ

[Melinda Auld]

I've seen dogs roll in things that would - and do - make your hair curl! My cousin's standard poodle once rolled in a dead pelican. Whooooaaa boy. Was that fun, washing that out!

Just recently, we took my 3 to the park. Someone had left an esky full of dead, stinky fish, fish bait and burley in the car park. Honestly...Glenn and I could hardly sit in the car on the way home. I have never smelled anything like that in my life, nor do I hope to ever again. And they were SO proud of themselves! They thought they smelled fantastic. Even after two baths, Fionn still stank of fish, and we had to throw his collar in the bin. It was that bad. It took a week for the smell to fade from his coat!

[Kristina Brannlund Westin]

Hi!

I really have to agree with Ursula that this is guite normal to dogs! It is always a risk letting the dog loose in the woods or somewhere else, but it wouldn´t be a good life for the dog always be in a leash. For me never using a leash on my dogs it is happening now and than, but I can deal with it as long my dogs are happy dogs and we still got hot wather in our shower.

[Jo Ottinger]

I am having so much fun reading these. It is so much fun to give your dog a hug only to realize there is something all over them. Tiz loves to roll in anything she thinks smells wonderful. Lady has never done this as she is to much a lady. My sister's dog found a dead deer and had a wonderful time climbing into it and rolling.

[Lynn Spencer]

We take my two girls to an off-lease area every weekend to let them run free. They love it so much, they 'cry' when they're almost there. My Irish girl Tess, is 'normally' a real lady, and will step around poop in our garden and look at me and say, 'for goodness sake' clean that up please. When she is at the park, running free, she will search out anything disgusting and roll in it. Most of the time it is usually kangaroo poo which makes her really stink, but she just loves it and is very proud of herself. My English Setter, on the other hand, whose normally, definately not the lady, is not interested at all in the 'delicacies' that her sister is rolling in.

I think most will do this at times and I would not worry about it. The only down-side, besides coming home in the car with all windows down on a freezing cold day, is that they need to be bathed, but so be it. Probably need one anyway, and they've had fun, being a dog.

[ursula wilby]

One of the most amazing thing about these world-wide sites is finding out how different things are in different parts of the world...

Like dogs rolling in dead pelicans (I imagine the smell as being a combination of fish and rotting meat) and now in kangaroo-poop! I am totally clueless as to the smell of THAT!

Makes my dogs rolling in rotten fish, seagullpoop and seaweed sound totally uneventful and pretty unexciting!

[Johanna Blacklake]

heh... and nobody (as far as I noticed) has mentioned human poop...

But maybe that is possible only in Finland.

Maybe I should have not written THIS message... LOL

[ursula wilby]

Oh yes we have!
Its mentioned right at the beginning...I wrote about it!

I have some puppy-buyers that live close to huge parks with lots of grilling-areas for people and benches to sit on...but no toilets!
Depending on the dog (or the quality of the poop?) it will either get eaten or rolled in.
Im not certain what I would prefer...

[Johanna Blacklake]

Sorry, missed that one!

Yes, it's happened once for my dog in the same kind of place as you described.
Please anything else but not the human poop!!!

Fortunately mine are not the kind of that like to do that (either eat or roll on something disgusting), not very often anyway.

I've heard that pineapple might help with this, prevent the eating habit.