What is it in a dog's psyche that makes it want need to puke on a carpet?

HA! Spoken like a true dog owner.
I’d guess it’s most similar to grass vs the tile, but I have no idea. They sure do go right for the carpet. Bonus points if it’s white.

It’s not a dog’s psyche”, it’s your dog’s psyche.

All the dog’s I ever had close contact with preferred to throw up in the bushes.

Our dogs puke next to the closest door. (I love our wood floors. Easy clean up.).

May be the dog threw up on it once, and now it’s got that scent in it or may be the carpet provides a support. Moreover it’s an involuntary response. Just try getting rid of the carpet. The coloring agents are just added to satisfy the pet owner’s ideals of how a pet food should look. Dogs don’t really care what it looks like, anyway. Avoid food with colored dyes. We usually give home made food for my dogs.

My cats are the same way. When they start retching they always go to the carpet to vomit. Perhaps the carpet offers a soft substrate that they can dig their claws into for support while they bear-down and puke.

Dumb as dogs are, maybe they think that the carpet is actually grass, or earth.

My dog always goes to the door to vomit, where there are wood floors. If we act fast enough, she’ll go outside to do it. She’s only puked 2 or 3 times since we got her a year ago. And it’s never had any red in it.

Now the cat, on the other hand, likes carpet for her vomiting.

On the rare occasions she does puke, our dawg runs to the back door & retches, she’s never actually vomited in the house.

Mine prefers soft bedding, pillows, etc. I’ve wondered why that is. No idea.

Dogs aren’t stupid. They use soft stuff so there’s no rebound.

I’ve had my dogs for 10+ years and my cat for 18.

I finally found a food after all these years that doesnt make my cat throw up every 5 minutes.

Oh it’s total bliss!

And yes she always puked in the most inconvenient spots.

I have this cute fluffy red rug which was totally washable and it spent most of the time just in there.

Now it’s draped over the banister because even though the cat hasn’t thrown up in weeks I’m afraid to put it down because just my luck.

Get ready to laugh, but I have a dollar store shower curtain over my comforter. Lol.

I got tired of pulling that off and washing it all the time too.

It’s kind of like the old days when your grandparents never took the wrap off their couch. Lol!

So I’m starting to think that it’s not the animals who are dumb.
:-\ I mean look at the stuff we go through for them all because we want to have them and we need to save them.

Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge.

~Jerry Seinfeld

I’ve watched my dog as he whined so I could let him out to throw up.

But I suppose there are times when he can’t hold it and he goes for various spots it wasn’t usually the rug.

I think he takes on my habits that he has seen me do for him because I would clean up his puke and he is a weird dog he loves clean things. It is not very often that I find substantial puke on the floor so if there is not much of it he has started cleaning up his own puke.

That helps me out.

All time grossest dog vomit story: When I first moved out into my country place, two golden retrievers showed up out of nowhere. They were so skinny they looked like Irish setters. Turns out they had been abandoned by their owner and had been trying to live on their own for a bit. They had a terrible poop eating habit. We adopted them and worked to win their trust. One day I thought they might like a ride in the car, so I put them in the back seat and went to get my s/o. They had never been in a car, I figured out later. They were scared out of their minds. About halfway back to the house, one dog vomited profusely all over the other, causing him to vomit profusely all over the floor of the car. It was almost all dog shit. Oh god, I never, never, had to clean up anything like that. It was stick your head in the car, clean until you gagged until you wanted to puke, and pull your head out. I lost them eventually, but that smell will be with me forever. A little vomit on the carpet? No big deal.

Dogs/animals in general, vomit wherever they are. They don’t have the presence of mind to run to to the toilet or grab a bowl.
The red dye in the crappy, commercial foods may be your dogs problem. Switch him to a quality food without dyes and additives. Years ago I had a cat that vomited from eating dry foods with red dye in it. I switched him to Iams and he never vomited again.

Taste of the wild, Blue Buffalo, and many other quality foods out there that are much better than the cheap crap from the grocery store.
I feed my cats Taste of the Wild Venison & Salmon, it is a high quality, grain free food with no artificial additives and is reasonably priced. They are extremely healthy and happy.

I had a dog with a sensitive stomach. She vomited colorless or clear yellow fluid every time her stomach was empty. and it happened at least once a day. I taught her to go to the tile to do it, I just had to be there to drag her over there. It didn’t take long for her to learn.

It’s absorbent.

The dirty carpet smells like dirt.