Have you ever encountered times when your dog refused to eat after you prepared its meal? Then the dog uses its nose to push the bowl away or buries it under the floor mat. It worries you because you think the dog is sick when the same behavior happens the following few days or that there is something wrong with the brain.
Some dogs use their mouth to carry the food bowl to another location, oftentimes tumbling the food all over the floor. Then they eat.
Others move their food dishes to the room where their owner is or take a bit of food to where their owner is, eat it, return to the bowl and get more food, bring it back to where their owner is and eat it, repeating this pattern until all the food is gone.
These are a rather interesting observations found among dogs. This article attempts to find out more.
All Breeds Do It
The first thing that we recognize is that all breeds, small or big, do it. So it’s not an uncommon thing when your dog does one of these quirky behaviors.
Speculations
So I guess the big question is why then do you they do it. Honestly there is no scientific explanation. Who knows? They may just be trying to be funny and playful. Experts can only attempt to explain what they think is the possible reasons behind these behaviors.
1) Moving the food to where the owner is and then eat: It is a reflection of the canine need to be with someone when they eat
2) Moving the food around with their nose: It has got something to do with their natural canine instincts. In the wild, after killing their prey, they will push the carcass around with their nose to check if it is dead. They will also nose around the dead flesh to sniff out any biting beetles inside that are ready to nib their noses.
It may also be a sign language to the owner that it is bored of eating alone or it is bored with the food.
When the dog doesn’t eat the food at all, it may be an indication it is really not well or it knows that the food is not good for her. You may want to try another type of food to see if the same behavior persists.
3) Burying their food under the floor mat or in the soil: It is to protect their food until they get around to eating it later.
4) Pour the food all over the floor and then eat: The dog finds it difficult to eat from the food bowl. This may be true of rescued dogs that are used to eating from the floor.
Summary
Weird behaviors as they may seem, these are not dangerous or bad habits. Most dog owners get accustomed to them over the years of their relationship with their dogs. So we hope that you will too.
