If you have ever caught yourself googling something your dog does at 11pm, you are in extremely good company. The most-searched dog questions on Google are not about training or nutrition, they are some version of “why does my dog do that?” In one analysis, “why do dogs eat grass” pulls 82,000 searches a month worldwide. We hear the same questions at the front desk every week. This guide walks through 12 of the most common, with what the current science actually says, what is normal, and when each one is worth a vet conversation.
1. Why Does My Dog Eat Grass?
The old theory was that dogs eat grass to make themselves vomit and settle their stomachs. The current evidence is much less dramatic. A 2008 University of California, Davis survey of nearly 1,600 dog owners found that grass eating is extremely common, that fewer than 25 percent of grass-eating episodes resulted in vomiting, and that only 10 percent of dogs appeared ill beforehand.
Most likely explanation: dogs are opportunistic omnivores and grass is just an interesting texture in their environment. The behaviour appears to be largely normal.
When to worry: Frantic grass eating with repeated vomiting, sudden onset in an older dog, or eating in combination with weight loss or appetite changes. Treated lawns can also expose dogs to herbicides, so where they graze matters.
2. Why Does My Dog Scoot Their Bottom on the Floor?
This one is rarely mysterious to anyone who has seen it on a beige carpet. The most common cause is impacted or full anal glands, the two small scent sacs just inside the rectum. When they don’t empty naturally, they cause itching and pressure, and the dog tries to relieve it on whatever surface is handy.
Other causes worth ruling out:
- Tapeworms (look for rice-like segments near the tail)
- Skin allergies causing perianal itching
- Diarrhea or recent loose stool
- Matted hair around the rear (long-coated breeds)
When to worry: Repeated scooting over more than a day or two, visible swelling, blood, foul smell, or licking at the area. Most cases are easily resolved by a groomer expressing the glands. Persistent issues need a vet.
3. Why Does My Dog Get the Zoomies?
The technical term is a FRAP, a Frenetic Random Activity Period. Dogs commonly zoom after baths, after meals, late in the evening, or right after waking up. It looks insane and it is completely normal.
What is happening: a sudden release of pent-up energy or excitement, often paired with stress relief (the bath is over) or anticipation (you are home). Adolescent dogs zoom more than seniors, and high-energy breeds zoom more than couch breeds.
When to worry: Almost never. Make sure the floor is safe (rugs can slip, glass coffee tables exist), and let them run it out. Zoomies that come paired with frantic distress rather than joy, or that happen in response to pain, are a different conversation.
4. Why Does My Dog Tilt Their Head When I Talk?
This is the cutest entry on the list and there is actual research behind it. A 2021 study from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary found that dogs labelled “gifted word learners” (dogs who knew the names of many toys) tilted their heads more frequently when hearing those names than other dogs did. The researchers proposed the tilt is related to processing meaningful auditory information.
Ear and skull anatomy also play a role. Dogs with floppy ears may tilt to clear a path for sound localization. Dogs with flatter faces may tilt to see past their own muzzle when looking up at you.
When to worry: A persistent head tilt that does not relax, especially with loss of balance, eye flicking, or circling, is a neurological symptom (often vestibular disease in older dogs) and needs same-day veterinary attention.
5. Why Does My Dog Sleep So Much?
Adult dogs sleep 12 to 14 hours in a 24-hour cycle. Puppies and seniors closer to 18. Working breeds in active homes may run lower, brachycephalic and large-breed dogs higher. Sleep is when dogs consolidate learning from training sessions, regulate hormones, and physically recover.
A dog who naps through the afternoon, snores on your feet through Netflix, and gets up enthusiastic for dinner is not depressed, they are calibrated correctly.
When to worry: A sudden, marked increase in sleep, especially combined with reduced appetite, reluctance to move, or behaviour changes, can indicate pain, infection, hypothyroidism, or other medical issues. Trust your sense of what is normal for your dog.
6. Why Does My Dog Lick Their Paws So Much?
Some paw licking is normal grooming. A lot of paw licking is almost always pointing at something:
- Environmental allergies: By far the most common cause in the GTA, especially in summer. Pollen, grass, and mould collect in paw pads.
- Food allergies: Less common than environmental, but worth investigating if licking is year-round.
- Yeast or bacterial infection: Look for red-brown staining of the fur, a corn-chip smell, or visible inflammation between the toes.
- Pain in the paw or higher up the leg: Dogs sometimes lick a paw because the source of pain (a torn cruciate, an arthritic hip) refers down the limb.
- Anxiety or boredom: A real but overdiagnosed cause. Rule out the physical ones first.
When to worry: Persistent licking of one paw, visible redness or swelling, lameness, or staining of the fur. Our post on spring allergies in dogs covers the seasonal angle in detail.
7. Why Does My Dog Stare at Me?
Soft, relaxed eye contact while you are eating, working, or watching TV is usually one of two things:
- Affection: A 2015 study in Science found that mutual gaze between dogs and their humans triggers oxytocin release in both parties, similar to the bonding response between parents and infants.
- Anticipation: Your dog has learned that watching you carefully predicts good things (walks, food, attention).
Hard, fixed staring with a stiff body, particularly near food or a resource, is a different signal entirely and worth taking seriously. Context and body language matter more than the stare itself.
When to worry: Stiff, unblinking staring paired with growling, whale eye (whites showing), or freezing is a warning. Back off and consult a behaviour professional.
8. Why Does My Dog Roll in Smelly Things?
The leading theory among canine behaviourists is that dogs roll in strong-smelling substances (carrion, fox droppings, dead worms, your child’s discarded socks) as a form of scent communication, possibly to mask their own scent for hunting or to bring information back to their group.
There is no fully proven explanation, but every dog owner has a story. The behaviour is universal across breeds and almost certainly hardwired.
When to worry: Not medically, just olfactorily. A pet-safe deodorizing shampoo and a thorough rinse will sort most cases. Frequent rolling in feces (coprophagia-adjacent) can occasionally signal nutritional gaps and is worth mentioning to your vet.
9. Why Does My Dog Bury Things (or Pretend To)?
Caching food, toys, and treasures by burying them is an ancient behaviour shared with wolves and many wild canids. Even when there is no dirt available, dogs will go through the motions, nudging a blanket or pillow with their nose to “cover” a prized chew.
It is normal, healthy, and usually a sign your dog values the item highly. Some dogs cache when they are not hungry yet, others cache compulsively when overwhelmed by abundance. Multi-dog households often see more caching as a soft resource-management strategy.
When to worry: Caching paired with guarding behaviour (growling when approached near the cache) needs attention. Otherwise, let them keep their treasures.
10. Why Does My Dog Lick Me, the Couch, the Air, Everything?
Light licking is communication and grooming behaviour. Heavy or compulsive licking, particularly of non-food surfaces or the air, is one of the most common signs of GI discomfort or nausea in dogs.
A 2008 University of Montreal study followed dogs with “excessive licking of surfaces” and found that nearly 75 percent had an underlying gastrointestinal issue, including delayed gastric emptying, IBD, and pancreatitis. Once the GI problem was treated, the licking stopped.
Other causes:
- Dental pain: Particularly air licking and lip smacking
- Anxiety and compulsive disorders: A real cause, but typically not the first one to investigate
- Cognitive decline in senior dogs: Often paired with disorientation or sundowning
When to worry: New, frequent, or disruptive licking, especially with changes in appetite, stool, or weight, needs a vet workup before being labelled a behavioural quirk.
11. Why Does My Dog Drag Their Bed Around or Dig at the Couch?
Den-building behaviour. Dogs in the wild and feral dog populations dig pits and shape bedding before sleeping. The pawing-and-spinning ritual that drives owners mildly insane is the modern descendant of that work.
Heavily pregnant or false-pregnant females may also nest more intensely, which is hormonal and resolves on its own.
When to worry: Frantic, prolonged digging at one spot, particularly combined with whining, can signal anxiety or sleep disruption. Otherwise this is just dog physics.
12. Why Does My Dog Bark at Nothing?
Almost always, your dog is barking at something you cannot perceive. Canine hearing extends well above the human range (up to roughly 65,000 Hz versus our 20,000 Hz), and they hear at four times the distance we do. The dog reacting to “nothing” is reacting to a high-pitched fence beep three houses away, an animal under the porch, or footsteps two floors up.
Their sense of smell is similarly outsized, so a wind shift bringing a fox or raccoon scent across the yard can trigger an apparent random alert.
When to worry: Repeated barking at empty corners or staring at walls in a senior dog can be an early sign of canine cognitive dysfunction. Sudden vocal changes in any age dog (raspy bark, voice loss) deserve a vet ear and throat check.
A Note on When to Stop Googling and Call Your Vet
Most of the behaviours on this list are normal. None of them, in isolation, mean your dog is broken. The pattern to watch is change. A behaviour your dog has always done is almost certainly fine. A behaviour that appeared suddenly, has escalated, or is paired with appetite changes, energy changes, weight loss, or vomiting deserves a phone call rather than another search tab.
If you are in the Burlington or Halton area and you have questions about a behaviour or a routine your dog has developed, our team is happy to talk it through. We see hundreds of dogs every month and can usually tell you whether something is in the normal-quirky range or worth a vet conversation.
Dogs are weird, and most of the time, weird is fine. Curiosity, grass eating, head tilting, bottom scooting, and bed digging are all features, not bugs. If you want to put the more nervous behaviours to good use, our enrichment-focused daycare and training programs channel exactly this kind of curiosity into healthy outlets. Drop us a line and we will be glad to help you decode your dog.