Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?



I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs. I recall having observed this
behaviour with cats but never with dogs. Anyone knows what this means? I
believe cats do it to imprint their territory with their scent. Does your
dog behave as such?



Puzzled,



Monika

"Monika I. Neszvecskó" wrote in message
.. .
Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?



I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs. I recall having observed this
behaviour with cats but never with dogs. Anyone knows what this means? I
believe cats do it to imprint their territory with their scent. Does your
dog behave as such?

My dogs don't do that, but if they did, I'd tie some big rags to their front
feet and let 'em dust the floor ;-).

I'm wondering, is your house raised off the ground a foot or two? Perhaps
there are rodents under the house, and he smells them. One of my dogs used
to do that when we had rat problems under our previous house. She'd scratch
kinda funny at the floor, and sniff, and scratch.

flick 100785


Puzzled,



Monika

Our black lab has a few favourite places to scratch. One such place is a
walk-in closet, but there are other different spots in the house where we
find scratches in the carpet. The tracks are very distinct and visible even
after vacuuming. Every so often she manages to snag some fibres in the
carpet with her sharp nails.

We assume that it is something instinctive, maybe she is creating a nest of
sorts. Usually she does this when we are not around. I have "caught her"
scratching just once. I doubt that the dog can really be trained to not do
this. I put this behaviour in the same category as rolling in stinky stuff.
It just happens.

Maria


"Monika I. Neszvecskó" wrote in message
.. .
Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?



I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs. I recall having observed this
behaviour with cats but never with dogs. Anyone knows what this means? I
believe cats do it to imprint their territory with their scent. Does your
dog behave as such?



Puzzled,



Monika

Monika I. Neszvecskó wrote:

Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?



I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs.snip

I've seen it. The neighbor's BC used to "bury" his empty food dish
after every meal.

On Mar 11, 11:28 pm, "Monika I. Neszvecskó"
wrote:
Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?

I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs. I recall having observed this
behaviour with cats but never with dogs. Anyone knows what this means? I
believe cats do it to imprint their territory with their scent. Does your
dog behave as such?

Puzzled,

Monika

Could be stress / anxiety. Could be a compulsive disorder. Could be
a lot of things. We'd need more information on frequency, intensity,
etc. We'd also need info on how much exercise he gets a day and age.

In article . com,
Good_Bully wrote:
Could be stress / anxiety. Could be a compulsive disorder. Could be
a lot of things.

Could be the dog's just fine and there are critters under
the floor, crumbs in the rug, or whatever.

But when you're not sure what's going on, *always* assume
that the dog's got mental health problems.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

If you can't say it clearly, you don't understand it yourself -- John Searle

"Good_Bully" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Mar 11, 11:28 pm, "Monika I. Neszvecskó"
wrote:
Can anyone explain my rottie's behaviour?

I occasionally catch him scratching the kitchen floor (or living room
carpet) as if he was sweeping up crumbs. I recall having observed this
behaviour with cats but never with dogs. Anyone knows what this means? I
believe cats do it to imprint their territory with their scent. Does your
dog behave as such?

Puzzled,

Monika

Could be stress / anxiety. Could be a compulsive disorder. Could be
a lot of things. We'd need more information on frequency, intensity,
etc. We'd also need info on how much exercise he gets a day and age.


Thanks to all that have responded.

As I mentioned, this behaviour only happens occasionally, that is to say,
about three to four times a year. It never lasts long. I'd say about five
minutes max, interrupted if he's caught doing it. Not that we say anything,
only he stops the minute we walk into the room. He then just looks at us
with this surprised expression as if to say "WHAT!?!". When left alone, he
may or may not resume for a last time and then, that's it.

Zeus will be 10 years old in April. He gets walked morning and night during
the week and passes the entire weekend with us, no matter where we go. On
Saturdays, weather permitting, we go hiking in the woods (his favorite
place) and Sundays, we meet his four-legged buddies at the dog run.

Quite frankly, I am more puzzled than worried. I was just wondering whether
any of you knew the meaning or have experienced something similar with your
four-legged babies. The ressemblance to feline behaviour is remarkable.
Would it be territorial, I wonder...

Anyhow, thank you again for all your responses.

Monika