Have You Ever Wondered Why?

We’ve all been there: waiting for our dogs to find “the” perfect spot to pee or poop. The dog is sniffing this and that, walking from here to there, and spinning around once “that” spot has been found. (We’ve all seen the infamous poop spin.) Have you ever wondered why this happens? Me TOO! Apparently so had others because researchers performed a study on this. We love learning interesting facts about dogs!

It is a known fact that birds, fish, and certain mammals use the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. With this in mind researchers decided to look for examples of expression of magnetic alignment in dogs, which eventually narrowed down specifically to elimination only.

The results of this study were conclusive in that when your dog is carefully selecting this perfect place to do his business, it is because they prefer to go in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field. The study also determined that dogs are sensitive to the small variations in the Earth’s magnetic field. It was found that during “calm magnetic conditions” dogs preferred to “excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis.” Dogs avoided the east-west axis all together. Dogs abolished this behavior under unstable magnetic field conditions.

Interesting Facts About Dogs

The study revealed no significant effect for excrement because of gender. But age did play a slight factor. Dogs in the age category 2.5-7 years showed a clearer preference than younger or older dogs. The effect of the dog breed could not be tested because of small sample sizes. (This study included examining 70 dogs, made up of 37 breeds in over a two year period. This equaled 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations.)

As to urination, there was a slight difference in the patterns between males & females. Males showed a significant angular preference for North-West heading whereas females showed a preference for the North–South axis. As with the case of defecation, the North–South alignment was only under calm magnetic field conditions.

This study was a totally blind study as the dogs were only being observed performing a natural act. Researchers observed the dogs in a free-roaming environment. This means the researchers did not leash the dogs. The owners did not influence the dogs. Walls or roads did not restrict their linear movement. The study did not involve any disturbance of the animals under observation.

So there you have it. Poop’ers = north-south alignment, pee’ers = north-west for males and north-south for females. And NO east west. Of all the interesting facts about dogs, this is most fascinating!

Are you going to check your compass on the next outing?  

Sources:  https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1742-9994-10-80 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/dogs-poop-in-alignment-with-earths-magnetic-field-study-finds

Does Your Dog Have Other Odd Behaviors?

Dogs do interesting things, like begging. Why do dogs do that? Learn here! If you enjoyed this article, read more about dog body language here.

Contact us to schedule a free consultation. Let’s work together to understand and correct your dog’s behaviors. Join the Rocky Top K9 family today!