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Robert Benchley, the humorist, once remarked that “A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.” Why do dogs circle before they lie down?

You have surely watched with curiosity and amusement as your dog makes a few tight circles before settling down for a snooze. He may even claw or dig at his chosen spot until his bed seems perfect.

His behavior may seem a bit peculiar, but he is only responding to instincts passed down through the ages from his ancestors of long ago. Eons before dogs were domesticated, their predecessors lived in the wild. They had to make their own safe comfy place to sleep.

In the summertime, they did that by circling to stomp down tall grass. Digging in the chosen spot exposed cool earth that served to regulate body temperature and keep the dog comfortable. Circling and digging also scattered bugs and other creepy crawly critters from the site. Sticks, stones, and other lumpy objects were also tossed aside in the process.

Cold weather posed a different problem. Dogs solved the dilemma by circling and digging into soil or snow to form a hole. Snuggling down into a depression helped the dog retain body heat and stay warm.

About 30,000 years ago, canines began to associate with humans who liked the fact that dogs helped them hunt and probably protected their home sites. Dogs no doubt liked the scraps of food the humans shared with them.

The arrangement was mutually beneficial, but dogs still had to make their own bed so to speak. The instinct to circle and dig to fashion a bed was not lost. Thousands of years of domestication have not changed that. Even a dog that has a dog house or better yet a choice spot in his owner’s home, often circles before lying down.

Noted behaviorist, Stanley Coren, thought dogs may circle to flatten the surface where they wish to build a nest. He presented a dog with a smooth surface of densely woven carpet or a rough surface of shag carpet. A total of 62 pet dogs were tested (31 for each of the surfaces). Roughly one out of every five dogs (19%) turned at least one full circle before laying down on the smooth surface. More than half of the dogs (55%) turned at least one full circle before coming to rest on the rough surface.

Creating a smooth surface for a sleeping place obviously plays a role in why dogs circle before lying down. Coren and others realize that other factors play a role in this complicated behavior.

Research aside, I observe my Irish Wolfhounds that range in age from four months to 10 years, circle before settling down whether on carpet, a huge doggie pillow, or the tile floor.  When I carefully spread a smooth doggie blanket for their comfort they occasionally sprawl on it but more often circle and paw it into a huge lump before settling on it to nap. Their behavior is surely dictated by instinct, but we humans and scientists apparently do not understand the nuances of making a proper dog bed.

Watching your dog repeat circling rituals does not mean he yearns to return to the wild. Instincts like old habits, die hard especially if there is no reason to change. Enjoy watching your dog circle and paw to make a comfortable “nest” even if his instincts are settling him into an expensive doggy bed or perhaps your bed.

Veterinary behaviorists are not sure why dogs like to roll in smelly stuff, but several theories exist. Many are based on the idea that the practice is an instinctive behavior passed on through generations of canines. The origin of such a behavior is not known, but the speculations are quite intriguing.

A suggestion that has little merit in my mind is that animals roll in smelly things to repel parasites like fleas, ticks, and lice. Most insects do not seem to mind smelly dog odor. Flies and many other insects actually gravitate to the rank aroma of decaying matter.

Others have suggested that a dog rolls in stinky stuff to communicate the location of a possible food source to other pack members. Pat Goodman of Wolf Park tested the idea by placing different scents including perfume, a fish sandwich with tartar sauce, the dog repellent Halt, and poop around the wolf enclosure. Wolves rolled in all the scents. Other wolves sometimes tracked the scent back to its origin after smelling the fur of the roller. This certainly isn’t definitive proof that wolves communicate information in this way, but it is an interesting suggestion.

Some believe that a dog is actually trying to put his scent on the smelly item. The idea seems a bit farfetched when you consider that a dog uses urine and feces to scent mark just about everything. It seems a stretch to believe that he would use the much less potent scent from his coat to mark a very stinky object. Proponents of this idea conjecture that the action is similar to a dog that rolls on a new dog bed to claim it. Rolling on a new bed seems far removed from rolling on a stinky item to lay claim to it.

A theory that has been bandied about by many is that canine ancestors had to hunt for their livelihood, so they rolled in matter to disguise their scent to potential prey. Antelope for example would be used to smelling antelope dung and rotting carcasses in their grazing area so perhaps wouldn’t detect a canine predator that had rolled in those scents.

Skeptics point out that the senses of sight and hearing would serve prey animals as better defenses against predators than their sense of smell. Antelope and other hoofed animals have eyes on the side of their heads allowing them a wide field of vision to detect an approaching interloper. Deer and other prey animals also have very large ears that can swivel around to detect sounds from many directions. That said, there is also the very real likelihood that an animal of prey could smell the scent of a wolf through the coating of smelly stuff.

These are good arguments that the prey might not be fooled by a stinky wolf. Ancestral canines were not privy to this information and probably would have ignored it had they known. Occasional success in catching dinner using the stinky dog disguise would have probably been enough to encourage them to use it again and again.

There will probably never be a definitive explanation of why dogs roll in smelly stuff. It is interesting to consider the several theories offered by experts in canine behavior. All suggest the origins of the behavior are rooted in the canine ancestral past.