Why does my dog bury his bones

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A.� Favourite items�such as bones and toys are probably buried as a means of saving them for later. This particular behaviour is probably ancestral and descends from when dogs were part of large wild packs, when the prey was large and couldn't all be eaten at the same time. By burying the left overs the wild dogs stopped other animals finding it and they could come back and finish it off when they needed to.

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Although the modern pet is unlikely to need to adopt this behaviour it's inherent.

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Q.� Why does my dog roll onto his back

A.� For a couple of possible reasons. Dogs roll around in grass because they enjoy it, so maybe your pet is just having fun, which you can add to by rubbing his exposed stomach. Alternatively, as dogs are social animals with rank hierarchies that vary with the company, it may be a sign of submission. Submissiveness is very useful for signalling that no threat is posed and for pacifying any approaching threatening animal.

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Q.� Why does my dog circle before lying down

A.� Again, this is possibly left over from when dogs were wild wolves and probably would have dug their own shelter. As part of this behaviour your dog probably does a number of things, he may sniff the ground first, paw at it, turn around and crouch down before nesting into an imaginary hole.

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Q.� Why does my dog lick my hand

A.� Although licking amongst dogs is part of a group grooming process it probably initially arose in wild ancestors as a method of greeting and begging for food: juvenile dogs and wolves lick the mouth of adults as a form of greeting, which also stimulates regurgitation, a convenient way to transport food back to the den.

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by Lisa Cardy