Does your dog have weird habits?
Why do they do strange things like staring at you when they poop, licking your ears, or barking at nothing to get your attention when something is wrong?
11. Staring At You During Poop
Do your dogs stare at you when they’re doing their business?
You might be on a walk with all sorts of way more interesting sights for them to stare at, yet they choose you.
Are you supposed to stare back? What’s the dog etiquette?
Turns out staring at you when they poop is your dog’s way of looking for protection.
Pooping puts them in a vulnerable position, so they’re watching you for signs that there’s danger or not.
As part of their pack, they trust you to have their back if you’re just calmly standing there waiting; no danger signs detected means they can finish pooping in peace.
Also, your dog might be staring at you out of habit, but not just any habit.
If as a pup your dog was trained to hold their poop until they were outside and got rewarded for it, they’ve likely formed a strong poop treat association.
That means in their mind, doing their business equals treat time.
So while they’re mid-squat, they’re eagerly watching your treat bag. Okay, I did the thing; now where’s my prize?
10. Weighing You Down
You can be standing doing the washing up or stretched out on the couch watching a movie.
At some point, you realize your dog has settled on your feet.
They look quite content too, which is plain weird—definitely not a comfortable pillow.
Dogs sit on your feet to feel close to you or perhaps trap you in one place so they can peer up at you with their beseeching puppy dog eyes and earn some ear scratches.
They have you right where they want you; if it’s cold, your puppy might sit on your feet to keep warm.
Sitting on your feet at least gets their rear end off the cold floor.
Your feet are also one of the places where your scent is strongest.
If your puppy is too short to reach your butt for a good sniff, your feet are a good alternative.
9. Butt Sniffing Extraordinaire
While some weird habits might depend on the dog, there’s at least one they all do: sniffing butts.
All dogs do it, and for a very good reason too.
Their nose can sniff out all sorts of pheromones and chemical changes.
These scents are unnoticeable to you, but they tell your dog a lot about who the other person or dog is, what they’ve been doing, and where they’ve been.
The habit of sticking their nose up your butt and sniffing is their way of asking about your day.
8. That Sigh
ever caught your dog letting out a long, dramatic sigh as if they’ve just finished solving the world’s problems?
But what does it mean?
It turns out sighing in dogs is often a sign of contentment.
When your dog is lying down cozy and relaxed, a sigh is their version of putting on fuzzy socks and sinking into the couch.
On the flip side, sighing can also be a sign of mild frustration.
Maybe they’ve been staring at their toy on the shelf hoping you’ll get the hint, and now they’re giving up. Fine. I’ll wait.
7. Reverse Sneezing
Reverse sneezing sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie.
If you’ve ever heard your dog make a sudden series of loud snorting sounds, you know exactly what I mean.
It’s like they’re sucking air in instead of sneezing it out.
This strange behavior might seem alarming, but it’s usually harmless.
Reverse sneezing happens when your dog’s soft palate gets irritated. Often by dust, pollen, or even excitement.
6. Snoot Booping
Dogs are very good at figuring out how to communicate with you despite the language barrier.
They love knowing when they have your attention so they remember the best actions to get you focusing on them.
Booping you with their nose is one of them.
When your dog does it, they know they’re adorable. Your delighted reaction says so.
Some dogs go as far as booping random objects both to investigate a new likely strange addition to your home and because you laugh when they do.
but not all dogs will use their nose on you; some dogs prefer to prod you with their paw.
This might be because you trained them to give you their paw in exchange for a treat or perhaps they get rewarded whenever you clip their claws.
5. Head Tilting
similar to how your dog learns to use their nose to get your attention
Tilting their head can be a learned behavior too, but this is one weird habit they don’t all do.
It also doesn’t always rely on your reaction. Some dogs tilt their heads to hear better.
If they have long ear flaps, they might tip their head to one side to move them.
This allows more sound to reach their ear canals.
As adorable as those long ears are, they also muffle sounds like your voice.
Since most dogs find comfort in listening to you speak, even if they don’t always react, they’ll tilt their head to better focus on you.
Other dogs might tilt their heads to see past their noses. This might be why the behavior is more common in breeds with longer snouts.
You can’t blame them. If your nose were longer, you might tilt your head to see past it too.
One study found that border collies tilt their heads to process commands you give them; it’s their thinking pose.
They were also found to always tilt their head the same way, just like we can be right- or left-handed. Your dog might be a left- or right-sided head tilter.
4. Ears a lick
Licking your ears might be one of the weirdest things your dog could do.
While licking can be a sign of affection, why do they choose your ears? It’s just plain odd.
Some dogs lick your ears when you pick them up; it’s their way of giving you a puppy kiss.
If your ear is the only part of your face they can reach, your ear is where they’ll direct their affection.
Sometimes, though, licking is just a way of tasting the salt on your skin.
Or even more weirdly, some dogs might enjoy or be curious about the taste of earwax.
3. Barking at…. What?
Most of the habits we’ve explored so far have been quiet ones.
Barking at nothing is no doubt the noisiest and likely most annoying, especially for your neighbors.
But did you know dogs never bark at nothing? There’s always something that sets them off.
In this case, you might be the crazy one.
Your dog probably thinks so; why aren’t you more worried about that strange noise outside?
What do you mean? You didn’t hear anything; it was so loud.
See, your dog relies on all of their senses to examine their surroundings, plus they have a much stronger sense of smell and hearing.
Both of these things tip them off to odd scents and weird noises that might be way too subtle, high-pitched, or far away for you to register.
Your dogs suddenly jumping off the couch and trying to bring the roof down with their voice might look random, but they might just be reacting to a distant thunderclap or a car backfiring.
2. Rubbing
Does your dog rub their side against your furniture or the wall in your corridor, or maybe there’s one patch of your garden fence that your pooch always rubs against?
If they have an itch, why don’t they just come to you? You’d be delighted to scratch it for them.
As weird as it seems, it’s mostly a harmless behavior; some dogs rub against walls to soothe an itch they can’t reach alone, but it’s also a way to mark their territory.
Scent is important to them. Marking their territory with their scent lets them know where they’re safe. It’s where home is.
1. Shadowing
Some breeds are known as velcro dogs, so-called because they’re always stuck to your side.
These dogs follow you from room to room, even to the bathroom. weird?
Why is your pooch so interested in what goes on in there?
It turns out there are three types of dogs based on how clingy they are.
We’re talking about low, medium, and high Velcro dogs. Which one do you have?
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