Hello! My name is Tonka. Margo Judge is my Owner Mom and we share a website called MomOpinionMatters.Com
I write a blog every Friday called View From The Paw where I try to understand Humans one paw at a time.
I am waiting to get approval to post directly on this site. Until then, my owner Mom told me she would let me use her blog space. Here is my latest blog-written before Memorial Day Weekend:
Rolling In Paw Deep Tradition!
My owner Mom took me to the park this morning. She and all the other owner Moms watched as each of us sniffed a particular piece of ground and then proceeded to roll our whole bodies in it.
I know we gross out humans when we do this.! We overhear them sharing tales of when we come home stinking from some dead carcass or feces.
Well, my owner Mom always used to tell my owner Boy to defend a point of view or an action with Facts, not Opinions. I learned a lot from listening to my Owner Mom talk to my owner Boy. So, I decided to find out the Facts behind what is one of my favorite things to do!
And guess what I found?
Quoted from Wikipedia:
Why Dogs Roll in Dead Animals
The current theory about why dogs will roll in smelly material comes from on their relationship to wolves and observation of wolf behavior.
Wolves will often roll in decomposing carcasses or the feces of plant eating animals or herbivores. It is assumed that this masks their own scent and enables them to sneak up on their prey without detection. It may even fool members of the other species into accepting a wolf as one of their own. It is assumed that this instinct is what we are seeing in the behavior of domesticated dogs as well. Working and hunting dogs tend to roll in smelly stuff more often than other breeds and this is perhaps because they are more closely related to wolves. Ah hah! I love this! Anything that connects me with a wolf is good! I think my ancestors are awesome! I feel about them the way my Owner Boy used to feel about Knights! And, I am a work dog, so of course I will sniff more! But more importantly is the fact that we can fool members of other species into accepting us as one of their own! Now if that doesn’t cancel out my advancing age, and help my application to join special ops and sniff out bad guys, I don’t know what does! !! (see my May 13th Blog)
So humans, next time you see us rolling around in some smelly spot,
do not think it is gross! We are honoring our proud wolf heritage, and we are keeping up our skills at deception. The fact that we would never roll in a dirty diaper in order to sneak up on a human toddler should be all that owner Moms care about!
Remember. We live by our nose. It has fed us, and protected us, not to mention all the humans it has saved. Never--how do you humans say--second-guess what we canines do related to our noses. There is usually a very good reason, and the reason is paw deep in canine history and tradition!
So, do all our ancestors and our history proud, and have a sniff and roll in it Memorial weekend!
Tonka
If you want to read all of my blogs, go to
www.MomOpinionMatters.Com. You can also find me on Facebook at:
View From The Paw by Tonka (See Friday Note)
Facebook wouldn't let me take the (See Friday Note) part off my title.
Humans can be very difficult sometimes!
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