[MissDaisyDog]

Dear Friends,

We adopted Miss Daisy about 9 months ago. She has been great. No house training problems or anything else.
Yesterday. I took her to Petsmart for a bath and a "furminator" treatment. Both of which she has has twice before with no prolems.
This morning we let her out in the (fenced) back yard as usual. When she came in...wow...it was obvious she had rolled in poop. I had to take her out and hose her down good. Finally got her cleaned up.

The question is WHY DID SHE DO IT? HELP. What sould we do to prevent a recurrance?

Miss Daisy and her driver, Fritz

 

[Mikey T]

Not just poop but anything with a strong odor especial died rotten fish


On school of thought it is instictual behavior, that of a preditor covering up its natural scent to make it easier to sneek up on prey.

As for stopping the behavior um nothing short of keeping them onleash and away from stinky stuff nothing and even then the above advice is bound to fail once an again as well.

 

[Beverly Anne]

My 11 year old, Francis, is completely blind, he can't even distinguish light from dark but if there is anything even remotely dead within a 5 mile radius he will find it and rub his head in it then roll in it. It is the bane of my existence.
Mikey, I think the dead, rotten fish was the absolutely WORST thing he ever rolled in. It took months for the smell to completely disappear.

 

[twobassets]

No idea why, but I can tell you the worse it smells the happier they are. :blink: Our first Basset was partial to dead birds. Sammy loves the little spit bugs that show up on long grass - i don't know their official name. Luther will roll in anything that smells really, really bad. Particularly after bath time. They also don't like it when I clean their bedding and get all the "nice stink" out of it. Mine sniff and then start to roll a shoulder to the ground. I use that as early warning and run like mad to stop them! :lol: On occasion I'm actually succesful.

 

[Terry]

My 11 year old, Francis, is completely blind, he can't even distinguish light from dark but if there is anything even remotely dead within a 5 mile radius he will find it and rub his head in it then roll in it. It is the bane of my existence.
Mikey, I think the dead, rotten fish was the absolutely WORST thing he ever rolled in. It took months for the smell to completely disappear.[/b]

Ditto dead fish being the worst. Moe and three Basset-buddies found a putrid puddle of jellied rotten fish remains on a beach once and they ALL rolled in it. The ride home was a terrible ordeal for my friend and I. We had a hard time not puking but the hounds were all VERY happy! Tally's personal rolling favorite is earthworms... after a hard rain they are all over the driveway. The poor things get mashed to bits and Tally ends up covered in worm guts.

 

[Aruuuu]

Right now, there's a spot in our back yard that all three of mine have rolled in. They have nothing on them and I can't smell anything, but obviously they could. Life with bassets presents many mysteries ...

 

[RaeChill]

I've always thought it was a predatory instinct to mask their scent when hunting... I can't remember where I heard that or if I just assumed that's why they did it.

Prey #1~ "No, on second thought, I don't think it's a Basset Hound. I think we're being followed by a dead fish covered in poop."
Prey #2~ "Oh, that's cool then."

 

[Beverly Anne]

Rae Chill, that was great.

 

[MissDaisyDog]

I've always thought it was a predatory instinct to mask their scent when hunting... I can't remember where I heard that or if I just assumed that's why they did it.

Prey #1~ "No, on second thought, I don't think it's a Basset Hound. I think we're being followed by a dead fish covered in poop."
Prey #2~ "Oh, that's cool then."[/b]

I think I was the prey!!
Miss Daisy's driver, Fritz

 

[roostershmoo]

I've always thought it was a predatory instinct to mask their scent when hunting... I can't remember where I heard that or if I just assumed that's why they did it.

Prey #1~ "No, on second thought, I don't think it's a Basset Hound. I think we're being followed by a dead fish covered in poop."
Prey #2~ "Oh, that's cool then."[/b]

:lol: I'll have to repeat that, it's a good one!