What does quirky ground scratching of dogs mean?
‘Ground scratching’ is an odd and largely unexplained behavior of our fur pets. We probably have not given it much of a thought before, but this for sure is a peculiar canine behavior.
Do you know dogs can sweat from their paws? The sweat that is released from special glands on the bottom of the paws is a unique scent that is enhanced when the dog scratches the floor.
There are certain facts of interest:
- 1. As opposed to what one may believe, roughly only 10% of dogs display this behavior. This is not common to all breeds of dogs.
- 2. It's equally common in both males and females. This is not a gender-specific thing.
- 3. Other mammals also show this behavior such as wolves, lions and coyotes.
Why do dogs scratch the ground after peeing
The primary reason is communication. Dogs, when scratching the ground after urinating or defecating are essentially marking their territory to let other dogs know that they were here. This could be to either establish their territorial rights for the ground or a causal hello to their buddies who live around. We do not know the true underlying factors.
- 1. They do this by visually marking their territory by throwing chunks of earth, grass, and soil.
- 2. Secondly, they use this to mark a scent around the area. The scent mark could be left by fluids secreted by glands in their paws as they scrape the soil and shower it across the ground.
It may have been observed that dogs who are more anxious tend to display this behavior more, and is often confused as aggressiveness in dogs. But that’s not entirely true either. Correlation does not imply causation.
The general advice to pet owners is to not be worried about it, and to let dogs be dogs.
It is also common for dogs to scratch the surface before they lay down. Dogs’ scratching the ground is a way to spread their scent and mark their territory, thereby communicating to other dogs and animals that this place is theirs. No one knows yet what goes in their mind but animal behaviour specialists believe that scratching the floor was also a way for them to create a shallow nest of sorts where they can retain body heat in case they were sleeping in the cold.
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