February 17, 2025, 8:58 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Every dog owner is probably familiar with this behavior: you take your dog out for a potty break, and before it does its business, it turns around in circles several times. But what is the explanation for this behavior, which some affectionately refer to as the “poop dance”? PETBOOK explains.
If you own a dog, you have probably already observed this curious phenomenon: You take your pet out for a walk on the grass so that it can defecate or urinate. And then this: the dog rushes off, finds a “toilet spot,” and then spins around once or several times before finally settling down to its business. What is this all about? Why do dogs turn in circles before defecating?
This question undoubtedly crosses the minds of dog owners who have watched their four-legged friend defecating. PETBOOK explains why dogs turn in circles before defecating. Science has, in fact, uncovered a compelling explanation for this behavior.
Why Do Dogs Turn Around Before They Poop?
Prof. Dr. Sabine Begall, a zoologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen, has researched why many dogs turn in circles before they defecate or urinate. Together with her team, she evaluated 7,000 dog observations and made a surprising discovery: it appears that the animals align themselves with the earth’s magnetic field when they do their business. The biologist’s research showed that eight out of ten dogs orient their bodies in a north-south direction when defecating or urinating. But why is that?
When pooping and peeing, dogs not only empty their bowels or bladder. They also use their excrement to create a fragrant marker, which they may also use themselves to find their way around. And the earth’s magnetic field probably plays an important role in this.
Why Dogs Turn in Circles Before Defecating
Just like migratory birds, dogs seem to have a kind of “internal magnetic compass” that helps them to orient themselves in space. Only when the magnetic field was stable did the dogs observed adopt the conspicuous north-south orientation. If the magnetic field was disturbed, for instance, by solar storms, the dogs would defecate and urinate without a specific pattern.
Sabine Begall was able to prove this by comparing the dog observations with the fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field during the period of data collection. These minimal changes in the intensity and direction of the field lines are recorded and published by the Fürstenfeldbruck Geomagnetic Observatory (also known as the Munich Earth Observatory). This allowed the zoologist to ultimately unravel the mystery behind why dogs frequently perform a little dance before doing their business.1
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Dogs Also Turn Around Before Lying Down
Incidentally, the German scientist received the so-called Ig Nobel Prize from Harvard University in the US for her research work. The award, as described by the organizing committee, is given by the prestigious university to honor research that “first makes you laugh, then makes you think.” The prize is a humorous alternative to the famous Nobel Prize. Its name is derived from the English word “ignoble,” meaning “unworthy.”
It’s interesting to note: Many dogs don’t only turn around just before they defecate or urinate. Some four-legged friends also show this behavior when they want to lie down. Is the magnetic field also responsible for this? Probably not. It is more likely that turning before going to sleep is a remnant of the past. This behavior likely stems from the wild ancestors of our modern domestic dogs, who needed to flatten tall grass to make a bed before curling up. They also marked their sleeping place with the glands on their paws to signal to potential competitors: This is where I sleep!