Doggy-do points the way

GERMAN and Czech researchers studying squatting dogs doing their business have found the pooches have an “inner compass” that may help explain how they find their way home over great distances.

When the four-legged friends stop during a walk to defecate or urinate, they tend to do so along a north-south axis, provided the Earth’s magnetic field is stable at the time, the scientists said last week. There was no notable difference in magneto-sensitivity among breeds, which ranged from a tiny Yorkshire terrier to a large St Bernard, said team member Dr Sabine Begall of Germany’s Duisburg-Essen University.