Why Does My Dog Spin To Poop?
March 4, 2018
The poopy dance is certainly a funny thing to witness, especially the first time. But like all behaviours, there’s some instinctual reason why your dog spins around before they poop.
As someone who works with dogs, I see a lot of strange behaviours and one of them is the poop spin. Every dog does it, although the dance varies from breed to breed, and sometimes from day to day. For instance, I walk one golden retriever who as soon as she hits the grass performs one and a half neat little circles before she poops. It’s the same measured circular motion every day and without fail, there’s always a result at the end of it.
On the other hand, my own dog – a beagle/springer cross – she does more of an urgent pacing back and forth and she’s very picky. Sometimes she’ll go through all the motions and then change her mind at the very last minute. Other times, she’ll pace back and forth once before squatting. But there are some days she takes forever to make up her mind.
The obvious reason dogs spin around before peeing or pooping is to pat down the ground, so they don’t get messy. But according to scientists out of the Czech University, there could be another reason and something to do with electromagnetic fields of the earth.
Scientists have known for decades that animals respond to the earth’s magnetic pull. Take birds that migrate, for example. It is these very same electromagnetic fields that affect their behaviour. The Czech University study says:
“Several mammalian species spontaneously align their body axis with respect to the Earth’s magnetic field (MF) lines in diverse behavioral contexts.”
Based on this theory, the scientists of this study probed deeper into the electromagnetic behaviour of dogs. Over a two-year period, they monitored the defecation and urination habits of 70 different dogs to see if the poopy dance is consistent among 37 different breeds:
“After complete sampling, we sorted the data according to the geomagnetic conditions prevailing during the respective sampling periods” ~ Hart et al. Frontiers in Zoology 2013, 10:80
What this means is that weather conditions were taken into consideration on a global basis. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other severe weather conditions can affect the MF to the point that the dogs sensed it. On a calm day, most of the dogs in the study would urinate and defecate facing along the North/South axis. But during disturbed weather patterns, most of the dogs were thrown off kilter and would have trouble pinpointing the exact spot to pee or poop. When the MF was off balance it would throw off the natural rhythm of their daily poopy dance.
An interesting theory and if it is true, then there’s a greater chance we share the same senses. Don’t you ever feel like you’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe it’s just the earth’s MF throwing you off kilter. Perhaps on those days your dog could be having a bad day too. Check out your pup’s poopy dance to be sure, so you can blame it on the earth’s MF. It might help you have a better day!
by Natalie Secretan
PuppyDogCapers.com