Why Does My Dog Roll Around on the Grass?

You've surely gone for a walk with your beloved dog and, all of a sudden, while passing through a grassy area, it's flopped down and rolled around on the grass, like it was doing a barrel roll.

They don't just do this on grass — sometimes they roll around on dirt paths, or even, much to our dismay, on feces or dead animals. It all has a meaning, even if we don't understand it in the moment, so at SoyUnPerro, let's look at the reasons and what they mean.

Reasons Why a Dog Rubs Itself on the Grass

You'll be surprised to learn why your dog rubs its back on the grass, as if it were rubbing itself or giving itself a massage. When it does this, watch its face — you'll see an expression of satisfaction and delight. Dogs absolutely love rolling around on grass.

The main reasons a dog rolls on the grass come down to three things: scent, heat, and itching. Let's go through them one by one so you can identify why your dog does it.

Cooling Off

We all know dogs are covered in a lot of fur — a visible coat we can see and pet, and another less visible layer that's generally shorter and woolly.

Besides the fur, dogs generally have one to two centimeters of fat all over their body, which helps them fight off the cold. So imagine how hot a dog can get while exercising, or when spring or summer arrives.

Dogs roll on the grass to cool off — they usually look for spots where the ground is damp and the grass is nice and cool. By rubbing against the grass, they lower the outer temperature of their fur and fat by several degrees, cooling themselves down this way.

Removing or Picking Up a Scent

Dogs have an incredibly developed sense of smell — no human can even come close to understanding just how developed it is. This means dogs detect thousands of scents humans are simply unable to smell.

When we bathe our dog, we leave the scent of the soap we used on it. The same happens when we apply a flea-and-tick spot treatment or collar. Dogs use grass to get rid of these scents they don't like at all.

On the other hand, if the grass carries the scent of another dog or animal that they find appealing, they'll rub against it to pick up that scent. It's quite a curious way they have of perfuming themselves, in their own way.

Soothing an Itch

This one may or may not be serious — if our dog has an itch, it's normal for it to rub its back to soothe it. It's a very subtle way of scratching, since their paws can't reach their entire back.

That said, if our dog has a skin issue due to an infection or allergy, the itching will be very persistent and bothersome, causing our dog to rub itself for relief. In this situation, though, we should see a vet to find the root of the problem and fix it.

Rolling on Feces and/or Dead Animals

The answer is quite simple — dogs don't just smell the nauseating odor we humans perceive from feces or a dead animal. They also pick up a wide variety of scents that they find very appealing.

What they do is rub their neck and back on the feces or dead animal to pick up those scents and keep them on their body. Although it's repulsive to us, they love it and genuinely believe it makes them smell much better.

We should simply scold our dog when it does this and then bathe it to get rid of the bad smell. This way, with a lot — a lot — of patience, they'll stop doing it over time.

What seems like a repulsive act to us seems like an exquisite scent to them. You shouldn't get overly angry at your dog for doing this — just a little, to let it know we don't think it's as good an idea as it does.

Sometimes they also do it instinctively, as a subtle way of getting rid of their human smell or the soap smell from a bath, so they can go unnoticed in nature.