As it’s Sunday and there’s no need to be serious, I thought I’d share some pictures of our puppy Sydney. She’s a one year old Boston terrier, insanely cute, and a massive amount of fun. However, one downside: She tends to roll in, er, smelly things (compulsory scientific question: Why do dogs do this?)
Anyways, we call this the Boston terrier break dance, and have caught the moves in slo-mo:
Any questions?
May 31st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I’ve always understood that the fecal-coating behavior is a scheme for masking their scent. After all, if you’re prey, and you smell cow feces, you’re not going to run for cover. I suppose that some dogs might be dumb enough to roll in lion feces, were there some available, but the odds are low. There’s a lot more herbivore feces in the environment than carnivore feces. Besides, carnivore feces isn’t for rolling in, it’s for eating (because the lousy digestive tracts in carnivores leave a lot of nutrients in the feces.)
May 31st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
“Any questions?”
No video? If you can’t show it on Youtube, it never happened. Dem’s the rules.
May 31st, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Being a Boston aficionado myself, I congratulate you on acquiring a breed which was expressly bred to be hysterically funny when awake. (When asleep, they switch to Awwww mode.)
With the addition of more Bostons, the funniness is not a linear function, but a rising curve within the range of 1 to 6 Bostons, after which point they still become funnier (though at a slower pace), but the human eye can no longer capture it.
Wait till you see the “Boston 500.”
Noni
May 31st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Not just feces, my beagle-shepherd was quite fond of of rolling in dead animals. I have also heard that it is to cover up their own scent. There are other reasons too. Possibly to advertise what they have found to the rest of the pack. Anyway be careful if you are near water. Removing the odor of dead fish is quite a chore.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Some animal behaviorists have suggested that dogs roll in odoriferous substances because they are oriented toward smells; i.e., they enjoy the stimulation of unusual or strong odors. Others suggest it is to let other “pack members” know about something interesting or to cover the smell of something they don’t like, such as dog shampoo. See, e.g.,.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Sorry, the link didn’t show. It’s http://www.school-for-champions.com/behavior/dogs_roll.htm
June 1st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Awe, Sydney is so cute! On a walk with our BT, Esther, we were also wondering about the rolling. She rolls in grass, not particularly smelly (to us). We assumed she was trying to mask her puppy shampoo scent or something. Thanks for the link, JakeR!
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Just like a Boston. They spend their waking moments trying to devise new ways to make you laugh! And yes, their idea of perfume is vastly different to ours! I remember driving all the way from Ignace Ont. to Thunder Bay with the car windows wide open, gagging all the way after my Boston had rolled in bear do…even scrubbing her in the lake didn’t fix the job…took days of scrubbibg before I could cuddle up to her again!!
Loret
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Susan, my first dog felt the same way about dead animals. When she found a dead mole in someone’s yard, it was the greatest day of her life. I still laugh thinking about our ridiculous spaniel trying to rub every inch of her body on this little dead rodent.
I assumed she did it for the same reason she would dig in the yard, eat grass and throw up, and chewed things in the house: pissing us off amused her. I’m sure there’s some more serious reason, though.
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@JakeR,
Yeah, I’ve always wondered about the “mechanistic” explanations. You know the ones, it’s biologically adaptive to the selfish gene allowing greater dissemination of the gamete blah blah blah…
Doesn’t it strike anyone the sheer joy dogs take in this activity? I liken it to people who like a really stinky cheese, or garlic. Maybe your pack (family) hates the smell and forces you to sleep outside the den for a few days. It’s still worth it though because the sensory experience was SOOOOO GOOD!
If that’s too anthropomorphic for you, just remember that we are evolutionarily related to the canines. To me it’s not such a stretch.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I have owned a total of 5 Bostons! Each one with their own unique personality. The one that hit my heart fast was our Brown/White Pebbles.
She was our talker,wiggle butt etc. Sadly we lost her to cancer at age 9.
June 6th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I’m with Romeo…would love to see the video
She’s a cutie…but then they (Boston Terriers) all are aren’t they?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
[...] doubt Sydney’s real cute and has all the right moves, but can Chris’ boston terrier contribute The Sunday [...]