Why Do Dogs Roll Over After Bathing?

There are behaviors that pets carry out instinctively and, nevertheless, ‘twitch’ the patience of their owners. One of them is when the dogs wallow in places that do not precisely stand out for their neatness.

Sometimes, washing our animals can become an arduous task, and it is not only cats that show the well-known rejection of water. In fact, many dogs, and even smaller ones, often experience the bath as a traumatic experience.

However, what really frustrates the attitude of the owners is to see how their dogs wallow after the bath, to detract from the work done.

That dogs tend to roll in the least hygienic places can be due to several reasons, but when this happens after bathing the most obvious reason is the attempt to recover their body odor.

Unlike humans, who tend to bet on all kinds of body gels, perfumes and even fabric softeners for washing clothes with intense smells, animals prefer their own scent. Thus, when they are enveloped in a scent that they do not identify as their own, they tend to coat themselves on their own mat, carpets or even on the lawn.

The sense of smell stands out as one of the most enhanced among dogs, especially in the case of males, who continually make sure to mark territory with their urine. The reasons for this behavior are basically two: to mark its dominance with respect to other males and to attract the attention of females.

It should also be noted that as soon as they finish cleaning and being dried with a towel, dogs tend to shake several times, and even give races interrupted by the aforementioned romps. This active attitude is due to their need to balance their body temperature, since with few exceptions or in the case of a specialized center, domestic showers usually end with a partial drying.

How to mitigate these post-shower behaviors?

• One way to reduce the activity of our dog after the bath is to ‘tire’ him first. Thus, if we take a long walk before washing it, it will tend to run less.
• Temporarily restrict your access to unwanted places (terraces, gardens, carpets). In this way, our pet will be less exposed to getting dirty at the times when it feels the greatest need to do so.

• Use special gels for pets. Normally, brands specialized in animal hygiene use more neutral scents, in addition to pH according to their skin.
• Deep drying. If the animal feels moisture, it will need to run to remove it. For this reason, and especially in the case of small dogs that are more ‘manageable’, it is convenient to insist on this last step.
• Reward relaxed attitudes. Since bathing is often a source of tension between owners and pets, proper behavior during and after bathing must be recognized.

Common places where dogs wallow

In addition to the already mentioned carpets, mats or gardens, dogs have a special predilection for the dirtiest environments when it comes to scrubbing:

• Feces of other animals. Dogs can roll over them to catch their scent and go unnoticed by potential prey. For this reason, it is necessary that, in addition to avoiding dirty areas, it is necessary to help keep areas for public use clean.
• Dead animals. Although it is not usually a common practice unless we are in the field, where the presence of corpses may be greater, it also helps them to go unnoticed by possible prey. All this is related to its hunting origin.