'nesting' Behaviour

[corvus]

OH and I have been speculating for a while now on Erik's 'nesting' behaviour, for lack of a better description. Sometimes when we put his Thundershirt on, it seems to trigger a nesting sequence where he will find something to rub his face on, then he'll spend a while vigorously scraping it into a pile and eventually nuzzle around in it and lie on top of it. He usually looks for something soft like a blanket or bed. We hadn't seen it very often before we started using the Thundershirt to lower his arousal. Since we first noticed it in association with the TS, we also started to notice it at other times. Usually it will pop up when he's had a plunge in arousal. Say he has been poking around quite actively and then he suddenly comes to lie down. Or we massage him or maybe cue him to lie down on his bed after he's been busy.

It really looks like a behaviour that gets switched on when the conditions are right. I am tentatively saying a sudden drop in arousal when it settles at a particular level a little above where he would normally crash and go to sleep. Erik typically keeps going until he falls asleep practically on the spot, but sometimes he settles more slowly. We see the nest making business when he settles quicker than he naturally would, but slower than a crash.

I have a question and a comment. My question is, do other people see this behaviour in their dogs and if so, what is it associated with? We see it a bit with Kivi, but not as intense and pronounced. He digs around a bit and then slumps. He doesn't nuzzle and push with his nose the way Erik does.

My comment is this kind of behaviour reminds me how incomprehensible, yet structured behaviour can be. It's like it switches on quite abruptly, and I find it fascinating that it always follows the same sequence and seems to occur in a pattern related to arousal.

[Jigsaw]

I've only seen my girl "nest" of an evening, maybe a few times during the day. She is generally very switched on and easily aroused but at night when she settles I get a lot, and I mean a lot of scratching her mat, or the rug on the floor, enough to remove the pile on occasion ! If her rug is out of her crate that gets bunched up but she doesn't lie on it. I usually interrupt her nesting and she settles down quickly and I usually then get a lot of deep groaning as she relaxes down.

Eta: forgot to mention that often she will be lying down apparently asleep and jump up and start scratching around, either in the same place or elsewhere.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Jigsaw