Why is my dog starting to hide his treats?
Your dog is just practicing the canine instinct of food hoarding. To understand this peculiar behavior, it helps to look back to your dog’s wild ancestors. In the world of early canines, food was often hard to come by. … So dogs would bury bones and carcasses near their den.
Why do dogs want to hide their bones?
Your dog is just practicing the canine instinct of food hoarding. … If a dog was lucky enough to find something to eat, he had to compete with other dogs in his pack—not to mention other animals—to keep his spoils. So dogs would bury bones and carcasses near their den.
As for Matilda, she only does this when I give both Cow and her a bone or long-lasting treat. Cow always chomps things down in seconds, only to stare at Matilda. I try not to let Cow bug Matilda, but when she does, Matilda will definitely try to find a hiding spot, even though her nose isn’t even touching anything.
This is true when we catch our dogs trying to bury their bones in blankets. It’s not so weird to see them successfully cover their treasure in the folds of the blanket. But it’s totally weird to see them nosing at the air, making absolutely no progress as they do it.
I decided to step up the challenge again by giving her the middle portion, sans toes. I stopped supervising her as I fed Cow indoors. When I returned to the back door, I noticed her digging around in the garden. She returned inside, then, shortly after, asked to go out again.
It’s not surprising to see a dog bury a treat that they cannot finish. I got to see this in action when I tried to give Matilda a chicken foot. She nibbled unenthusiastically at the end, then abandoned it in the grass. It was cold out, and she just wanted to go inside, so I gave the foot to Cow.
Wild dogs and wolves gorge themselves on feast days, then bury what they can’t finish. I’m not sure how this influences their survival. A buried bone would quickly attract maggots and become too rotten to eat. However, if the soil is frozen, the burrow could act as a refrigerator. No way would scavengers be affected – any self-respecting scavenger can easily sniff up a tasty cache.
Why Do Dogs Bury Bones? – Primitive Instincts
If you’re overly generous with your pooch in terms of toys or treats, burying them is a way for them to say “Cool! I’ll save this.” Sometimes they may even want to bury items because they’re too good for them to eat all at once — they want to save them so they can enjoy them again later.