Why do dogs roll in the grass?

Flash Fiction - Question, really...

Why do dogs roll in the grass?  Are they trying to mark their spot?  Tell other dogs to stay away?  Or come closer?  Do they like it, so they do it for fun?  Do they do it when I'm not around?  Or just when I'm watching?

I have to admit, I'm confused by dog behavior.  I do not uderstand why they do some of the things they do.  Probably because I'm not a dog.  I'm a human woman, and we don't understand anything, according to my husband.  I don't understand why they push the food bowl around three times before they eat.  Or take small bites into the other room, drop it on the ground, then proceed to eat it.  Really?  Is that necessary?  Or why do they circle two times to the left, then three times to the right before they lay down?  Does that really make the blankets perfect?  Just right for sleeping?  I'm confused.

Anyway, both my dogs like to roll around in our grass after dinner.  I wonder what is really going on inside their heads.  The internet tells me - they are marking their spots.  Hmm, I don't know if I believe that.  I think they do it because everyone likes a back rub.  And what better way to get a back rub, than to do it yourself?  I sometimes catch my husband scratching on a door jamb... he says his back fur itches, and I wasn't around to scratch it for him (good thing for me).  Maybe that is what the dogs are doing.... scratching their back fur?

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Hmmm. You seek answers to some of life's great mysteries. Fact is, I do odd things that I can find no reason for doing. Perhaps us guys shared a cave with dogs for much too long? Oh, no--another unanswerable question.
Seriously, though, I find your thoughts entertaining.

[Michael G.]

Dogs do do what we think is odd. Some say it goes back to their ancestry.
Who knows for sure. They are still part of the family. We'll love them like we love the human part of our family, strange quirks and all.
Fun reading.

[Shari Vaudo]

I like this story, Amy. We've had many dogs in the past, but we're down to one min pin now, but you're right; every one of them has thought it was so much fun to go outside and roll in the grass. I used to think it was because they smelled something stinky, but if that was true every time, folks in town should have been able to smell our yard. No one ever mentioned it.