My dog is funny!!!?

Question

Why does he turn around and around in circles(not chasing his tale just slowly)about 20 times before he lies down and he also pulls with his mouth at what he is trying to lie on (e.g the sofa) and he scrapes it.

Answer 1

It's an instinctual response. Way back before dogs were domesticated, their wild dog and wolf ancestors would often have to sleep in tall grass or amongst brush and bracken. They would turn around in circles and scrape and scratch to make it a suitable sleeping nest.

Answer 2

Its an instict of his. All dogs do it. They don't know why but it is just a kind of old fashioned habit. When dogs didn't have sofa's or basckets to lay in they had to sleep outside in the dirt. They made it more comfortable by digging a hole first. Then they would turn around a couple times to find the best place to lay in. Even though they do not need this behaviour anymore it has still not grown out of them.

Answer 3

Turning round before lying down is a harmless habit. As for pu;;ing with his mouth and scraping your sofa ... It's a bad habit! You need to discourage him from doing it.

Once you see your dog doing it, say 'No' firmly and watch him. Should he resume the scratching, say 'No' again and so forth until he realises that you are not happy with this! Once he gets to ay down without doing it, reward him! Call him good boy and give him a littl treat he likes. Once he understands that scratching is bad behaviour, that you do not accept it, he will amend his behaviour.

What you could also do is get him a pet sofa and put him on it anytime he tries to scratch the couch. He will then realise that your sofa is only for cuddles only (Once he's earned them) and not to be scratched!

Best wishes

Answer 4

He is making it comfortable and "un-lumpy".
My woofer does exactly the same, he wont lay down until it's perfectly comfortable, he sometimes lays down and then gets straight back up again as it's not quite right !
The scraping of the sofa will be for the same reason - to smooth any lumps or bumps.
It is just one of their little quirks !

Answer 5

He is just trying to situate himself and get comfortable. Kind of like the way we toss around a bit before settling down into a comfortable position to fall asleep in our own beds. Some say this is an instinctive habit.From needing to flatten down long grasses into a little bowl type of indentation for comfort, warmth, and cover as they settled down for the night.More pronounced in the cattle-herding & similiar working-dog breeds.Just picture him out on a rough field, like his ancestors. That behavior makes sense when you recognize the origins . My sister's dog actually uses her teeth to pull her own blanket completely over her each night before she will go to sleep!

Answer 6

Yeah, dogs are crazy.
My puppy Daisy cracks me up all the time. She is so hilarious. She doesn't cirlce 20 times (!!!) but she does a few circles and then paws around at the blankets before laying down.
She is funniest when DH comes home. She is always looking for him to bring her a snack and he can get her so worked up that she starts to howl. It is so cute...
i totally love my dog.

Answer 7

My dog does that, he also scrapes his blanket and pillow into a ball then lies on it then decides it is not comfortable enough and starts again only to end up looking at me crying to straighten it again so he can lie down then i must cover him with his blanket.

Answer 8

I thought it was just my dog that does that. My other dog never did that at all, but i heard some dogs do it because in the wild they would have done that to get the twigs and leaves out of their way and get comfortable, but now that our dogs are domesticated, they have that trait sometimes. It is so funny!

Answer 9

It's a genetic memory of when they nested in the wild. They would turn round and round to beat down vegetation so the could lie down.He's making his nest.

Answer 10

They turn around because they are trying to find a soft comfty spot