Q.) Why Do Dogs Circle The Floor Before They Lay Down?

Yes strange and why does a dog sniff his piss and poop after he goes.
Or circle before they take a poop.

Of course there's a reason for it!

trampling down long grass to make a bed
instinct

I suppose you want to know the reason.

Say you're a dog, outside in a field with tall grasses and weeds with a bit of snow on the ground (the normal habitat for wild dogs). How do you make a comfy place to sleep? You stomp down the grass and weeds to cover the snow a bit and help insulate you from the cold, at the same time leaving the other grass/weeds standing around your nest to protect you a bit from the cold wind.

Perhaps it's deciding whether to lay down or go potty.

It's a territorial thing

And the winner is.....

A dog is a tamed descendant of the wild specie and the circling is instinct to flatten the grass down. My dog circles to let me know he needs to do his toilet business so I take him out when I see that performance.

Body language. The dog is reasoning out his manuver, Where should I lie down, am I ready to lie down, is this the right spot? "OK, I'll try it". They smell their poop, or someone elses to find out who it belongs to, "Ok, I did this", "Sam's been here", "what have they been feeding me?" If more people truly understood animals, they would find out that they really do talk. They understand us more than we do them. So who is the stupid animal?

Body language is not just the animals way of communicating we people do it too.

They circle to double & triple check their surroundings before they lay down. Looking for other animals.

My dog will do this when he is outside but not when he is inside.

One good turn deserves another.

To be sure, to be sure, to be sure.

Seriously, don't you check where your going to sit outdoors? and if your going to put your sleeping bag down don't you check twice for ants etc?

Dogs are very smart, when your dog finds a place to settle move him over and sleep where your dog picked his spot.

I agree with above posters - instinct to 'make' their beds before they lay down.


Now



Got another one for ya....

I have a puppy. Had him since birth, and as soon as he was old enought, he began bringing in garbage and scattering it about the yard and also his 'place' on the porch where he sleeps. Clumps of grass, wood, tree limbs, plastic bottles, anything he can find and I have no idea where he gets it all. I clean it up every couple of days but soon its in same condition. I have shelves I have things stored on, gas containers, and assorted junk. he drags it all off and leaves it in front of the shelves.

What on earth makes him want to junk up the place?