Why do dogs roll in stinky stuff??

dog training
Yesterday a friend of mine called and
wanted to know why her dog rolled in anything
stinky he could find.

She said that every time he went outside he would
find anything that stunk and roll all over it. She was
disgusted and tired of giving him a bath.

I explained to her that rolling in smelly stuff is
a throw back from his hunting days. Dogs and
wolves would roll in anything that smells to
mask their scent.

This made hunting easier, they could sneak up
on tonight’s dinner without being detected.

My friend thanked me for the lesson in canine behavior
but was more interested in learning how to stop
it.

I informed her that stopping a behavior is simple,
all she had to do was apply a negative consequence
to whatever behavior she wanted to stop and she
had to catch her dog in the act.

I added that there are many ways to apply a negative
consequence to a behavior. Negative consequences
can be anything her dog does not like.

We talked for a few more minutes and she said that
her dog hated being sprayed by the hose.

Okay, I said. Now all you have to do is give your
dog a verbal command like “NO” and spray away.

Here is the crucial part, I added. “You have to catch
your dog in the act. Even a few seconds late will
confuse your dog and it won’t work.”

“That’s all there is to it?” she asked.

I replied, “Changing behavior is all about
consequences. If you want a behavior to occur
more often like sit, down, come, heel, reinforce
it with something your dog likes. If you want
to stop a behavior, apply some type of negative
consequence.”

I also told her that negative consequences do
not have to harm the dog. You can use sound,
water, your voice, even breath spray.

On the Dog Training Inner Circle, we discuss and
show many different ways to reinforce and stop
behaviors. Every dog is a little different.

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