[yorkietalkjilly]

I've always thought it was a vestigial pack-related behavior left over from earlier, wilder, wolf days when the scout, hunter wolf would roll in the dead critter he'd killed or happened upon after he'd run off the birds of prey, coyote, etc., eaten and then gone back to his pack to share the find with the pack. They would all follow him because of that scent, remove the other birds or critters re-gathered there eating and get to eat themselves, maybe for the first time in days. Momma wolves could then go back and feed weaning or weaned babies from a portion of it in her stomach or nurse infants once she's fortified a bit.

I get that impression from things I've read and observed about dogs that they are born wanting to share experiences and information and, as almost the first thing they do when meeting another dog is sniff them, usually in the areas where a lot of scent gathers, they seem to be finding out a lot of good info about that other dog, they do it so intensely and for so long. Experts always say that the perianal area carries scents that contain real information about that dog's life situation - health, sex, psyche - whether he's a leader or follower, etc. So they use scent to "talk" to each other.

So I guess if you want to tell the pack you've found a dead moose, the quickest way to more safely do it, besides carrying a piece of meat in your mouth that might get you attacked by anther predator like a bear or something for that food, is to roll in that scent and then meet up with your pack after you are full as a tick. The "me-first" attitude still reigns with canines and apparently always has!

So much of what our doggies seem to do doesn't makes a lot of sense to us but they sure keep us guessing where and why that behavior started. But I've read a lot of books about dogs and that seems to be the prevailing theory about why they roll in other critter's body's scent or feces - is to try to share the food or knowledge that there is food or other critters in the area - as the feces reveals. That poop hanging off the coat can tell the other pack members that another potential meal could be "on the hoof"(so-to-speak) quite near. Or, perhaps it's sharing the info that another pack member or even a dangerous predator like a bear is around. When they roll in the cat feces in their own backyard and then run happily to us, seems the so-called experts say they are saying "Hey, mom, there's a cat critter around here - shall we find it NOW??? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

But there are some other interesting theories, too. But personally I believe rolling in scent is an attempt to share what they consider to be vital information about who and what is around and important in their world. Some dogs still will roll in their food at times but I don't think our human prepared raw meat and processed dog food has the same wild lure to it that the dead carcass of another critter does, so mostly it doesn't really spark that old genetically-coded behavior in the same way.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.