A Disturbing Fetish or A Natural Instinct?

This evening we had a nice family walk; Zachary, girl dog, and I. You know girl dog, that precious golden retriever we own. Ya, her. Chara. Other names she goes by is poop face and road kill lover. Today, Road Kill Lover made a reappearance. 

Z & I were just walking along, enjoying the evening, when we noticed Chara wasn't beside us.  So we looked back to find that Chara had stopped off  on the trail and was rubbing her face and upper body fervently & enthusiastically around on the grass. At first it was kind of cute seeing her but up in the air, while she was desperately itching something on her upper body. Itching. Ya. That's what she's doing. That's a totally normal thing. If only that's what she was doing. But truly in the back of my mind, I just knew that Road Kill Lover had struck again. And she did. There upon the trampled, smashed grass {from Chara's enthusiasm} was a rotting one legged frog. Yummy. 

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Since this is getting to be kind of a routine now, what with two incidents and everything, I started to get worried. So I did what I always do when worry strikes, I googled. 

Let me tell you, I found a wealth of knowledge. Like maybe my dog isn't some kind of freak with a dead animal fetish. 

Here are 3 alternatives to Chara being a freak;

"1. One is that dogs are attempting to mask their own scent. This would be a holdover from their origins as wolves. Masking their scent may help wolves sneak up on prey without alerting them by way of smell." Source

>So basically Chara was 1. trying to better her non existent ninja skills. It takes a lot of skills sneaking up on your dog food, you guys.

"2. A second theory is that rolling in feces or a dead animal's remains is a way for a dog to communicate that he's found something interesting. The dog (or wolf) then transports that smell back to his family (his pack) in order to advertise his discovery." Source

> Or 2. Chara was really excited about this super awesome dead frog find and was just being a loving child and wanting to share it with us, her mommy and daddy.

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"3. A third theory is set forth in the book The Truth About Dogs, by Stephen Budiansky. It is possible, Budiansky writes, that we've gotten it backwards. The dog may not be trying to absorb the scent; instead he may be trying to impart his own scent onto the object of his interest, for the same reason that a dog may urinate on a tree. The purpose may be no more than to leave a calling card – to over mark another scent. " Source

>Or 3. She's super greedy and insists that all other dogs in the area know that this dead frog is hers. A dead animal dibbs or "shot gun!" kind of thing. Or super vain and think everyone else would rather smell her scent than the frogs. I mean, I don't blame her, she smells pretty good most of the time.

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So, you see Reader, she's not a freak with a fetish at all but is just living out that natural God-given wonderfulness of being a dog. But I think we'll let this wolf descendent sleep on the floor tonight. ;)