Hiding or burying food

Life Pets & Domestic Animals
1

Our boy Lucky did something pretty strange last night. He hadn’t eaten much that day, so we put down about 450 grams of raw chicken for him to eat. He got into it right away and seemed to be enjoying his meal. After finishing about 2/3 of it, he promptly stood up and started pushing his towel on top of the food (he has a towel to lie on in the living room). After completely covering the remaining chicken, he sat back down and continued watching TV with us. We were watching a Discovery Channel documentary on wolves, so Lucky was quite interested.

We left the chicken covered just to see if he would do anything with it. After about an hour, it was time to go to bed. When I opened the door to the bedroom, he went straight in, paying no thought to the food he had buried under his towel. We tossed the food as it was covered with his fur.

Has anybody else’s dog done this sort of thing before? He has done this with his vomit when he’s gotten sick in the past, but never with food. Why would a dog do this?

2

my dog has similar behavior with rawhides. I think it probably is a natural instinct that some dogs have or develop. If you have something leftover you better hide it or someone else might eat it. Lucky didn’t have any earth to dig in so the towel was probably the next best thing.

3

Well that explains the suspicious eye he always gives my wife when he’s eating. :wink:

4

My beagle has done this kind of thing for years. He likes to hide a bone in the middle of the floor. He just places it on the floor and goes through all the motions. When he’s done the bone is, in his mind, safe. I enjoy watching, it’s cute.

One thing that isn’t so cute is when he surreptitiously places mouthfuls of his dinner under the corner cushion of my couch.
:astonished: