Why does my dog roll in food she doesn’t want to eat?

[Sunsets]

I understand rolling in dead stuff. I understand rolling in fish juice.

But I offer her something like shrimp, and she takes it eagerly, then immediately spits it out and rolls in it. And it’s not a full on roll, it’s a “smash cheek followed by shoulder” dive. Just now I gave her the gristly bits from a cooked ribeye and she alternated between chewing on and rolling on it. Which is new. She usually either eats or rolls, not both. And God forbid you try and take away the food she’s rolling on - she gets all resource guardy and I have to discipline her.

I am sharing the house with such a strange creature.

[S1969]

Same reason dogs roll on dead animals. Not sure what that answer is, other than “because it stinks.”

A lot of dogs don’t really like shrimp. To them it might smell like a dead animal.

My dogs would never roll on pieces of ribeye, they would eat that! But I suppose it might smell rancid to your dog?

[ParadoxFarm]

Maybe it’s a gesture to show what she thinks of your culinary skills. Just kidding. My dog has never done with with food, but if he finds a pile of wild turkey poop…look out. :eek:

[snowblaze]

Maybe she wants to smell like something that’s too disgusting to eat?

[Chall]

I always thought rolling in stinky stuff was to disguise their own dog smell from their intended prey, back when their ancestors hunted food.
We have so domesticated them we sometimes forget they are hunters, well I expect farmers/cattle/sheep raisers never forget that.

[Equibrit]

Several ideas here; http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170608-the-many-reasons-why-dogs-might-roll-in-smelly-poo

I like the Hawaiian shirt theory

[Sunsets]

@ParadoxFarm

Maybe it’s a gesture to show what she thinks of your culinary skills. Just kidding. My dog has never done with with food, but if he finds a pile of wild turkey poop…look out. :eek:

She’s not wrong. Though one time she did it with a very nice piece of steak generously offered to her by a local chef. We took it away from her and gave it to another doggo also on the porch there. I suggested that if he wanted to get on her good side, he should bring her whipped cream. He looked at me like I was nuts, but came back out with a bowl of fresh whipped cream and she damn near took his hand off trying to get to it.

Oddly enough, she ignores goat poop on walks. Likes fish juice and dead stuff.

I think some of it is nervousness and a way of resource guarding when she gets overwhelmed. She wasn’t very well socialized when I got her so she sometimes reverts to weird (to humans) behaviours when she gets stressed. (at which point I know it’s time to go)