Why do dogs hide food around the house? A Comprehensive Guide

Why is my dog hiding food?

A dog hiding their food is a relatively common occurrence. A dog burying their bone in the backyard is perhaps one of the most famous traits in terms of hiding food. It is important to know that, for the most part, dogs hiding food is a normal behavioral trait. It is part of the canine instinct and is related to their wild ancestors who had to fend for themselves without the help of a human family.

However, a dog excessively hiding their food or becoming insecure about it can be worrying in the minority of cases. The most common reasons for a dog hiding their food include:

Protect the food from others: one of the most common reasons why a dog thinks it necessary to hide their food is protection. Although we may feed all of our animals properly, dogs can worry that they have competition. If they leave their food sitting out, it is understandable another animal in the home may try to take it for themselves. Hiding it is their way of preventing this from happening. It happens most often in homes with multiple animals, especially if they are not sufficiently supervised. In these cases, the dog may also eat their food too quickly as they fear it will be taken away.

They value it more: it may be more common for your dog to hide treats than other types of food. This is because they view the treats as special and want to keep them safe. This is why they often bury bones since they are not everyday food items.

Inappropriate environment: if the environment in which your dog eats is, in anyway, inappropriate for them, they may hide their food out of stress. They do not feel secure in this area and, therefore, want to take it somewhere more secure. This happens when we place their food bowl in a noisy part of the home or somewhere there is a lot of foot traffic. It may be common for the dog to take the food to their bed since they see this as a safe haven. Different dogs have different needs to others, something we explore in our article on why does my dog only eat when Im around?

Inadequate diet: when the dog does not have proper nutrition, the dog may feel hungry. By hiding food in a different place or covering it over, they may be signalling to you they need more. It may not be the amount of daily food your dog is receiving. The nutritional composition of their food depends on their age and health status. For example, dogs with kidney disease will need a special diet to help reduce damage done to the body.

Negative past experiences: when a dog has been neglected or traumatized in the past, it is often in the form of being denied food. This is the case with cats which have been abandoned. They may hide food because they have developed the habit out of necessity.

Play or boredom: finally, your dog may hide or bury the food simply because they are entertaining themselves. Also, if your dog spends a lot of time alone or does not do enough daily activity, boredom may be leading to this hiding food behavior.

Should I be concerned if my dog is hiding food?

If your dog hides or buries food, but it otherwise happy and healthy, there should be no problem. This is especially the case when they hide treats such as bones. However, we do recommend you find food if you can and throw it away in case it becomes rotten and they try to eat it.

As you can see from the above section, there are some reasons your dog hides their food which might be cause for alarm. In these cases, the impulse behind hiding food is due to feeling insecure about food as a resource. They either feel like it will be the last food they will be given or it will be taken away from them. You will need to find the underlying cause of such insecurity and treat it.

To do so, you will need to look at other symptoms or problematic behavior. For example, dogs which have suffered trauma may be nervous around strangers or develop destructive behavior. Another example of problematic behavior is excessive barking, especially if it happens all of a sudden.

We do need to acknowledge the difference between hiding food and food aggression in dogs. While the former might be benign, becoming aggressive over their food is a sure sign of an underlying problem, even if the reasons are related.

5 reasons why dogs hide food and treats

There are various root causes of hiding behavior, some are completely harmless and purely your dog doing what dogs do, while others may stem from more complex issues. Here are five potential reasons that are driving your canine companion’s desire to hide their food and treats.

The most obvious explanation as to why your dog is hiding food is because they’re wanting to make sure they have a stash that they can return to later should they feel hungry. In this context, hiding food and treats is completely normal and is something your dog’s ancestors would have done when living in the wild.

For non-domesticated animals, hiding food is a way of guaranteeing that they have enough stores to get them through lean times. Hunting trips aren’t always successful so if an animal does make a kill, it will often portion it up, eating some now and saving some for later.

Even though your pampered pooch is living in an environment where it doesn’t need to worry about its basic survival needs, those survival instincts still very much exist and can be difficult to override. Hiding food is particularly common amongst hunting breeds, such as the Beagle and Dachshund, two scent dogs who are natural trackers.

If you’ve ever spent time training a rescue dog, you know how much love and patience this can take. And for good reason – rescue dogs have often come from very difficult circumstances that make them highly anxious and this anxiety will often drive them to engage in challenging behaviors.

Even after they’ve been rescued and adopted into loving forever homes, rescue dogs may still hide any food or treats that you give them. This is because they’ve often come from situations where they faced extreme abuse or neglect and where food may well have been extremely scarce.

Previous exposure to inconsistent feeding in a home environment or having had to fend for themselves on the street are two scenarios that can trigger anxiety in dogs around food that leads them to want to hide and hoard their resources. This behavior often resolves itself over time as your dog learns that they’re safe and will be fed regularly.

Just like food aggression and resource guarding in dogs, hiding food items is another way that some of our canine companions may try to protect their resources. Depending on their background, some pups may naturally be more possessive of their food than others and may decide to bury it or hide it somewhere around the house to avoid it being taken away.

This survival strategy is particularly common in multi-furkid families, where your dog may worry about their fur sibling stealing their food. Some dogs, particularly senior pups, often take longer to eat due to dental and mobility issues, so taking their food away and hiding it is a way of making sure their share is there when they want it.

Believe it or not, you may be showering your beloved bundle of fur with a little bit too much love on the food front! Feeding your canine companion too much dry dog food or raw dog food as well as showering them with delicious treats on a regular basis may mean they’re getting more food than they need, which can lead them to hide it.

If you’ve been generously over-feeding your dog without realizing it and you notice they’re hiding a lot of their food and treats and saving them for later, rest assured that this is a great sign in a healthy dog. It means your pup knows they’re getting more food than they need and are stashing away the leftovers for when they feel hungry.

Finally, hiding food and treats is often a result of boredom. Even if you have a good selection of the best dog toys for your pup to play with, if you’re regularly out of the house and your canine companion tends to spend a lot of time alone, hiding food often becomes their way of amusing themselves.

Think of it as almost being like a game to them. Because they’re not getting enough mental and physical stimulation, your dog will hide their food and then set themselves the task of finding it later. This wards off boredom and helps give them something challenging to do when they’re on their own.

As you’ve seen, there are a number of potential reasons that your dog may be choosing to hide their food. While some are more a cause for concern than others, rest assured there are lots of things you can do to help minimize this behavior. Here are a few of our top tips and tricks:

Whether it’s the best wet dog food or a dry equivalent, one way to stop your dog from hiding food is to reduce the portion size of their meals but feed them more often. Put their meal down in front of them and once they’ve eaten the amount of food that they want to eat, remove the bowl so they can’t hide any of the leftovers.

When it comes to treats, it’s important that these don’t make up more than 10% of your dog’s daily diet. It can be helpful to create a treat schedule, where you write down what treat or treats you’re going to give your dog each day and when you plan to give them. This will prevent your pup from stashing treats inside and outside the home.

Why Do DOGS HIDE Their FOOD? (Reasons & What to Do )