Decode your dog’s behaviour: 17 dog behaviours explained

It’s our natural tendency to project human traits and emotions onto dogs, yet we come to expect daily dog zoomies as normal dog behaviour. And while we can pick up on things like dog anxiety from dog body language, and understand why dogs howl, some dog behaviours – like rolling in stinky things or barking at nothing – are truly baffling.

What’s classified as normal dog behaviour might surprise you. Here’s what canine experts have to say.

Every day when letters and packages are delivered to your door your dog barks. Does this dog behaviour mean your four-legged friend hates delivery workers? “Barking at people outside is a protective behaviour,” says vet Gary Richter. “Dogs see their house as their territory, and anyone approaching or [coming] near their territory is a potential threat, so they bark to ward off the intruder.”

Think about it from your dog’s perspective: a mail carrier delivers mail, the dog barks to ward off the intruder, and the mail carrier goes away. It creates a pattern that is reinforced over and over. “From the dog’s perspective, they are saving the house from invasion every day by driving away the invader. We never appreciate their efforts,” Dr Richter says.

Little love nips from your puppy are sweet and adorable, but if you don’t nip this dog behaviour in the bud, it’s a puppy-training mistake you’ll regret when your pet’s adult teeth come in. “Dogs may bite playfully at their owners’ hands or feet because they know it results in them getting attention, even if it is negative attention,” says vet Jo Gale. Playful biting can quickly become more serious as dogs become excited or overstimulated.

Biting can also be a result of a dog’s anxiety and stress, or a warning sign your dog is in pain, especially if it nips at you when you touch or move it. As for biting as a form of aggression, you can usually identify it by paying attention to a dog’s facial expression and body language. “Always seek veterinary and behavioural advice for biting behaviour due to the risks of human injury,” advises Dr Gale.

“Dogs are, by nature, opportunistic feeders. Most will happily accept any type of food, at any time of day,” says Dr Gale, who notes that we can’t put all the blame on dogs. “Humans actually reinforce the begging behaviour when they react and share their food with the dog. The dog quickly learns that this is a successful tactic to get extra snacks.”

Staring at you and waiting patiently to grab a morsel from the table or a treat after a job well done is an expected and common behaviour. Growing puppies, pregnant and nursing dogs, breeds with high energy requirements, and those that exercise a lot may have an increased appetite, says Dr Gale. “If your pet’s appetite changes or their weight looks to be increasing, be sure to get them checked by your veterinarian to investigate the cause.”

One of the things veterinarians want you to know about potty training is that you can expect accidents in the house. But what happens when your house-trained dog suddenly starts peeing and pooping inside? It’s not necessarily due to bad behaviour. “My biggest concern when I hear this complaint is that your dog may have an underlying medical problem, such as urinary incontinence, inflammatory bowel disease, urinary tract infections, or even kidney failure,” says vet Dana Varble. It is also important to spay and neuter pets at the age recommended by your veterinarian to reduce the chance of urine marking, which is especially common in male dogs.

It’s no wonder dogs can smell so many things that humans can’t. They have upwards of 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses – humans have a paltry six million. With all those receptors, you would think dogs’ high scent orientation would steer them away from vile and pungent smells, like dead animals, yet it’s like eau de cologne to them. “Their opinions about what constitutes an attractive scent are often different from ours,” says vet Jennifer L. Summerfield. “It’s thought that the behaviour of rolling in dead or especially stinky things may have originated as a way of disguising the dog’s scent, which could be useful for hunting.”

If your dog is displaying these behaviours, it may need obedience training.

Why do dogs eat poo and other gross things, like rotting food? Just as a dog’s sense of smell is highly advanced, its sense of taste is vastly different from ours. We both like a juicy burger, but dogs find a rotting chicken or even vomit quite tasty. “Dogs originally evolved as scavengers, eating scraps on the periphery of human settlements, and feral dog populations today still manage to survive quite well on less-than-ideal food sources, like rubbish, roadkill, and other unsavoury options,” explains Dr Summerfield.

So why don’t they get sick when they eat nasty roadkill or expired food? “A dog’s GI tract can process bacteria and other contaminants that would make a human sick and is often able to extract some nutritional value from ‘gross’ things like poop or vomit.”

Dr Summerfield says there are three possible reasons for this dog behaviour. One theory is that your dog is stamping down the grass for a clean place to defecate. The second is that it’s scanning the area for predators before it goes. But a study found what may be the most fascinating reason: “A study done in Europe found that dogs tend to align themselves in a north-south position when they poo,” says Dr Summerfield. Even more interesting, dogs rarely relieved themselves along the east-west alignment.

Of all the things your dog actually wants from you, you wouldn’t think sniffing human crotches would be one of them. Although this dog behaviour presents an awkward situation, it’s totally normal and not something you should be embarrassed about. Dr Summerfield says dogs collect a lot of vital information via their noses, and the most concentrated sources of pheromones are in the crotch or bottom areas, whether you have two legs or four. “Although we might find this behaviour socially inappropriate, sniffing the anus or genital areas of another dog is a very polite and a normal way to say hello in the canine world, much like shaking hands for humans,” she says.

Find out why dogs sniff other dogs butts.

As you may have guessed, this usually means they’re dreaming, and fortunately, it’s not usually of any medical significance, says Dr Richter. Still, it makes you wonder what dogs dream about. Probably nothing too weird. Studies have revealed that certain dog breeds acted out their hallmark traits while dreaming, like an English springer spaniel flushing out prey or a pointer “pointing” in its sleep. If all that “running” during sleep seems excessive, Dr Richter says it could indicate underlying stress or a medical condition.