Why Does My Dog Kick After Pooping?

It's About Scent, Not Cleanliness

The most common misconception about this behavior is that dogs are trying to cover up their poop, like a cat burying waste in a litter box. But watch closely: the kicking doesn't move dirt toward the poop. The dog typically faces away and kicks backward, sending dirt and debris flying in all directions (including, sometimes, at you).

The kicking is a scent-marking behavior called ground scratching. Dogs have scent glands in their paw pads — specifically, eccrine glands that produce a chemical secretion unique to each dog. When a dog scrapes the ground vigorously, these glands deposit pheromones into the soil. The combination of the feces (which already carry scent information), the urine, and the pheromone-laced scratches creates a multi-layered scent message for other dogs.

Think of it as leaving a calling card with multiple forms of identification.

The Visual Component

The kicking also serves a visual purpose. The scratch marks left on the ground are visible cues that catch other dogs' attention. In natural environments (dirt, grass, leaf litter), the disturbed ground is conspicuous — lighter soil is exposed, grass is torn up, and leaves are scattered. These visual markers draw other dogs to the spot, where they then investigate the scent.

Research by Bekoff (2001) on free-ranging dogs showed that dogs who ground-scratched after elimination attracted significantly more investigation from other dogs than elimination sites without scratch marks. The visual disturbance acts as an "advertisement" that says "come smell this."

In urban environments on concrete sidewalks, the kicking still happens even though it can't leave visible marks — the behavior is instinctive and not dependent on the result.

Which Dogs Do It More?

Not all dogs kick after every elimination, and some dogs never do it. The behavior varies by individual, but certain patterns emerge:

Intact (unneutered) males kick more frequently than neutered males, which suggests a hormonal influence. Testosterone is associated with increased territorial marking behavior across many species.

Dominant or confident dogs tend to kick more than submissive dogs. Ground scratching is an assertive behavior — it's a declaration of presence, not a fearful response. Dogs that are anxious or submissive are less likely to advertise their presence.

Dogs in multi-dog environments kick more than solo dogs. If your dog walks a route used by many other dogs, the kicking frequency tends to increase. The dog is responding to the presence of other dogs' scent markers.

Both sexes do it. While it's more common in males, female dogs also ground-scratch, especially during estrus (heat) when they're producing more scent signals.

The Pheromone Science

The eccrine glands in dog paw pads produce a secretion that contains volatile organic compounds unique to the individual dog. While the exact chemical composition is still being studied, research indicates these pheromones communicate:

• Individual identity. Like a fingerprint, each dog's paw secretion has a unique chemical profile that other dogs can identify.
• Sex and reproductive status. Hormonal information is encoded in the pheromone profile.
• Presence and recency. The volatility of the compounds means they fade over time, so other dogs can estimate how recently the marker was left.
• Possibly emotional state. Some researchers believe stress hormones may be present in paw secretions, though this is less well established.

Combined with the information in the feces (diet, health status, hormones, individual identity) and urine (hormones, hydration, health markers), the complete elimination-plus-kicking ritual provides a remarkably detailed profile of the dog.

A Normal Behavior

Ground scratching is entirely normal and is observed in domestic dogs worldwide, as well as in wolves, coyotes, and other wild canids. There's no need to discourage it unless the kicking is causing a specific problem (like spraying dirt on other people, tearing up your lawn, or scratching pavement so aggressively that the dog's paw pads are damaged).

If the kicking is vigorous enough to cause injury — raw or bleeding paw pads — check the surface your dog is kicking on. Concrete and asphalt are abrasive, and a very enthusiastic kicker can wear down the pads. This is uncommon but possible.

If your dog also does unusual things like eating grass and then vomiting or staring at walls, those behaviors have their own explanations and are generally unrelated to the post-poop kicking.

Wolves Do It Too

Studies of wolf packs reveal that ground scratching is more common among pack leaders and is used at territory boundaries. Wolves will ground-scratch at the perimeter of their range, particularly in areas where neighboring packs' territories overlap. The behavior serves both as a territorial declaration and as a way to establish familiarity — regular marks in the same locations tell neighbors "this area is still claimed."

Domestic dogs have inherited this behavior, though they apply it more broadly and less strategically. Your Labrador kicking up the grass at the dog park isn't defending territory in a survival sense, but the instinct driving the behavior is the same one that helps wolves manage complex territorial relationships.

It's Not About Covering the Smell

Cats bury their waste to conceal their scent from predators — it's a prey-animal survival strategy. Dogs, as predators and social animals, have the opposite motivation. They want their scent to be found. Feces, urine, and pheromone-laden ground scratches are all forms of broadcasting rather than concealing.

The backward direction of the kick reinforces this. The dog isn't pushing material toward the waste to cover it. It's pushing material away, spreading the scent markers over a wider area and creating the most visible disturbance possible. Some dogs put extraordinary effort into this — really winding up and sending clumps of grass several feet — because a bigger display spreads more scent and creates more visible ground disturbance.

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