My dog-gone dawg has rolled. I don’t know why animals do this but a google search says: “Some wolf characteristics stayed with the dog like the scent rolling instinct. The leading explanation is that they’re instinctively disguising their own scent so that prey animals won’t sniff a predator upwind. Megan Parker, research biologist at the Wolf Education and Research Center in Seattle, says that, yes, wolves-the ancestors of dogs-regularly roll in carrion. But she’s not so sure the reason is to disguise their scent. Both wolves and dogs have plentiful scent glands, she told us, so disguise is probably imperfect at best.It could be they roll in carrion to take the scent back to the pack, telling them they’ve found something interesting. Kind of like a restaurant review. It could also be that they’re marking the carrion with their scent, to tell anyone else who comes along ‘this is mine’. Of course, there’s always the possibility that some dogs may simply enjoy rolling around in carrion or feces, the way we enjoy a scented bubble bath.”
Well, he’ll get a bath alright — and me too from getting too close to him. I don’t know whether to be more upset at the dawg or the prevert that left the gift in the woods.
