You are here:

Beagles/Worm rolling

Advertisement

Expert: - 3/30/2010


Question
When my otherwise normal 10-year old beagle finds a dead worm on the driveway, she rolls and rubs herself in it. Then she salivates extensively. She doesn't attempt to eat the dead worm, but just rolls herself over the worm until it's pretty much obliterated. What's this all about?

Answer
Please forgive my tardiness in answering you, system was down for a week.

This delightful phenomenon is one of the leftovers from the genetic gene pool of pools of wild dogs and wolves. It is hard wired into their brains, and they will often roll in decomposing carcasses or the feces of plant eating animals or herbivores. They supposedly do this to mask their own scent and make it so they can sneak up on their prey without detection. Current thought is that this instinct is what we are seeing in the behavior of domesticated dogs as well. Working and hunting dogs tend to roll in smelly stuff more often than other breeds maybe because they are more closely related to wolves.  

Beagles

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Have4Paws

Expertise

I am happy to answer BEAGLE BREED SPECIFIC behavioral questions. Please DO NOT ask CRATE TRAINING OR MEDICAL questions! I am not a vet nor an expert in the use of crates.

Experience

I currently have one beagle, a male age 5, an 12 month old Pit Bull, and a 8 year old min. poodle. I have had to let go of three of my dogs, 2 beagles and 1 whippet/rat terrier mix in the past 5 years, most recently my whippet mix. The two beagles lived to 15 and the whippet mix to 13.5, it has been hard to say goodbye to them. I have done rescue work on and off for years as well as fund-raising for the local animal shelter. I worked for a dog magazine in the past (Southern California Dog Magazine). Being a psychotherapist has encouraged me to do in depth studying of animal behavior as well. I have worked with many people to help curb undesirable behaviors in their dogs (or them!) or to form good behaviors. My life is devoted to and surrounded by my dogs........The picture you see here is Zeppelin but we also call him the "miracle dog". He was hit by a car April 2010 while out with the dog walker and had very serious injuries... 4 surgeries and $17,000 later my boy is whole again and back to loving life. He is so special to me and he weathered a lot of pain and trauma yet is still the sweet boy he always was! I also work to stop Breed Specific Legislation and help to get pit bulls adopted.

Organizations
HSUS, PETA, SPCA DONT SHOP...ADOPT!!

Publications
Dog Fancy

Education/Credentials
I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in the state of CA and am also credentialed as a Certified Addiction Treatment Specialist

Awards and Honors
Honored by the Agoura Animal Shelter for my volunteer work.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.