A Natural InSTINK

I went for an evening walk, as always. Tonight it was just me and Shea. Walking around the neighborhood, I decided to go out to the main street that runs perpendicular to our street. I did this because sometimes Shea likes the stimulation of the cars passing.

We had taken this road sometime last week. I remember noticing, laying on the side of the street, a dead skunk. I remember it distinctly because I wasn't sure at first if it was dead or not, and quickly pulled Shea past on that night. The unresponsiveness on the skunks part made me realize he was in fact, dead.

Why am I talking about this, you might be wondering? Well that dead skunk came into play tonight. The skunk carcass had actually been removed from the spot. All that remained was a small amount of fur or hair, whatever it is they have.

So, walking along, Shea did as he normally does at any spot, and began sniffing around. This was not alarming to me in any way. Not until he dropped to the ground and began rolling around. I caught a glimpse of the black fur or hair that was laying there in the grass, and my mind flashed back to what I had seen in that exact spot last week. Pulling and tugging on the leash, I pleaded with Shea to get up and get away. He did fairly quickly, thank goodness.

As we walked home, I couldn't help but continually look at him with horror. How could my baby puppy do this? What on earth could drive him to do such a thing?

Lucky for me, I have google at my fingertips. Of course, I googled what could cause a dog to roll on a dead animal. Turns out this is a very common occurrence in the dog world. It goes back to their primal instincts. They naturally do it to cover up their scent so that they can both hid from predators and sneak up on prey.

News flash Shea.....I feed you kibble in the kitchen twice a day! You don't have to hunt!