How to stop dogs rolling in poo (and other stuff!)

Let’s not beat around the bush, walking 6 dogs offlead is hard work. To ensure all 6 (or 5,4,3 etc.) are paying attention to you, not bothering anyone else, have all the poos picked up and make it back to the van in one piece is no mean feat.

Add a ‘roller’ into the mix and yes, you really do have your hands full.

What’s a Roller?

A roller is one of those dogs who, when given the opportunity, will roll in anything smelly, stinky, wet and downright disgusting.

I’ve had dogs roll on dead birds, rubbish bags, fox poop, bird poop and yes, even human poop.

How to stop dogs rolling in poo

We’ve got two options. Management or training.

Management

Management means managing the situation and the easiest way to do this is to put your rollers on a lead, either a normal short one or a long line.

At the first sign of something to roll in the dog can be led away gently with the lead.

Walking a dog on a long line need not be a chore. If the dog is usually good at recall (when there’s nothing for them to roll in) then you can allow them to run around trailing the lead behind them and you’ll just need to be there to grab it should the need arise.

Another form of management could be switching your roller to a different walk where there are fewer opportunities for them to roll.

This might be swapping them for the group who gets a woodland walk to the group who gets a park walk.

Training

As with all training, it’s difficult for us as pro dog walkers to have a major effect on the dogs unless we can get the owners on board too but if we can then we have a couple of options.

Recall

Being able to call the dog away from anything, even that tempting pile of stinky dead stuff is what a good recall should look like and very few dogs have this ability. But they can all learn it.

Owners tend to stop the recall training as soon as their dog comes back 9 times out of ten when they call them. But in order to really have a strong recall, their dogs should be trained in situations that include all the distractions that you might ever encounter and want to call your dog away from.

In the training world, this is called proofing the behaviour.

Once you’ve got a decent recall, you proof it by adding distractions gradually, at a rate the dog can deal with and recall successfully from, until you’re in a position where the dog will recall from pretty much anything, fox poo, dead birds and sticky, squealing toddlers.

Leave

Another option is to train a solid, 100% bombproof ‘leave’.

Leave should mean that the dog stops whatever they were doing enabling you to go and pop them on a lead and draw them away from temptation.

Why do dogs roll in smelly stuff?

Although a definitive explanation has never been settled upon by scientists, there are some solid theories as to why dogs might feel the need to roll in the smelliest of things found in the forest.

Camouflage and Disguise Hypothesis:

One plausible explanation for dogs rolling in foul-smelling substances is rooted in their evolutionary history as predators and scavengers. In the wild, dogs’ ancestors needed to hunt for food and avoid detection by potential prey or competitors.

Rolling in strong-smelling substances, such as the scent of a dead animal or the faeces of other animals, could help mask their own scent. This camouflage strategy would allow them to approach prey more stealthily or potentially reduce their vulnerability to larger predators.

So next time little LuLu rolls in human poop, she’s merely attempting to avoid being spotted by that squirrel that looked at her funny last week.

Communication and Social Bonding:

Dogs are highly social animals, and scent plays a significant role in their communication with other dogs. Rolling in foul odours could be a way for them to bring back novel scents to their pack or family group.

This behaviour might serve as a form of communication, conveying information about their environment or potential sources of food to other pack members. In a domestic setting, this behaviour may persist as a way for dogs to bond with their human companions or to share interesting scents with them.

So when little LuLu runs towards you after rolling in human poop she’s merely trying to communicate with you and bond with you and is confused when you seem ungrateful and unwilling to participate…

Olfactory Overload and Sensory Stimulation:

Dogs possess an exceptionally keen sense of smell, estimated to be tens of thousands of times more sensitive than humans. Rolling in strong-smelling substances could be a way for dogs to engage and stimulate their olfactory system.

This sensory stimulation may be pleasurable or intriguing to them, akin to how humans enjoy various sensory experiences, such as enjoying the aroma of a fine wine or the texture of a spa treatment.

Little LuLu thinks human poop is her equivalent of a Yankee candle.

Ancestral Behavior:

Dogs are descendants of wolves, and some of their behaviours are thought to be rooted in their wolf ancestry. In the wild, wolves are known to roll in the scent markings of other animals, possibly as a way to gather information about their environment or to establish dominance over territory. Domestic dogs may retain this ancestral behaviour to some extent.

Little LuLu the chihuahua still thinks she is a wolf. A wolf covered in human poop. A wolf who is going to put your day back at least 30 minutes as you try and mud daddy the worst of it off before she gets in the van.