#3: Your pooch craves your attention
“I’m starved. ATTENTION starved to be exact, hooman.”
Dogs and kids alike have their own ways to get their parent’s attention.
Some kids even get silly because of attention deprivation.
Just like when they intentionally mess around with their food. Because their parents are busy talking. And they want to get noticed.
This could also be the case for your fur baby. You might’ve been too occupied with chores. And you don’t pay attention to them anymore.
Especially if you usually look at them when they’re eating. And praise them for having such a good appetite.
A study shows that attention seeking in dogs is likely to happen due to a strong attachment to their human.
However, food nudging due to attention seeking might also become a…
Why does my dog push his food with his nose?
Your dog pushes his food with his nose because they’re a picky eater, curious, bored, seeking attention, caching, or moving their bowl. This could also be due to breed, reinforced behavior, food bowl issue, vision, or dental problems. Or they might want the food you’re eating.
#2: They’re saving it for later
“Who knows? I might be hungry later.”
Does your dog nudge their food and doesn’t eat some of it?
If so, there’s something you need to observe.
Try to watch them after nosing their food. Then, wait to see if they’ll come back for it later and eat their meal again.
If this happens, food nudging might be your pooch’s way of caching.
Caching or storing their food is a behavior that came from their ancestors.
Wolves hunt for their food in the wild. And their hunting varies every time. Sometimes it’s abundant, other times they have none.
So, wolves know that their next meal will be uncertain. As a result, they try to save something that could last them for days.
In modern times, pooches display this behavior as a part of their nature. Which they may not only do with their food. It also applies to their toys or favorite objects.
Reading tip: 7 Strange Reasons Why Your Dog Puts Stuff Under The Couch
Get Rid of the Food Bowl and Resolve your Dogs Behavior Problems
The split second you finish pouring kibble into Sofia’s bowl, she starts pushing it across the floor with her nose. Sure, she’s probably just playing with her dinner, but that play-like behavior has an actual purpose. In some cases, though, constantly relocating the dish is a sign of a medical condition, meaning that as a precaution, you should let your vet know about her quirky behavior.
You’ve probably watched your dog play at some point. She pushes around her squeaky toy, tosses it up in the air and then shakes it around when she catches it in her mouth. This play behavior is actually a part of her hunting skills. She’s practicing for the big kill. Even though you feed her regularly and she doesn’t need to hunt, the desire to search for food is still in her. When she bats around her food bowl, she could be making the kibble seem life-like. By swishing around her bowl and making the kibble bounce up and down, it gives her the excitement of being able to gnaw down on her “fresh catch.”
Every morning and evening you fill Sofia’s bowl at the exact same times — like clockwork. Even though she knows she’s getting fed, she still has this deep urge to hoard her food. It goes back to her bloodlines. Her ancestors hoarded bones and leftover pieces of carcass after the big hunt, just so they had something leftover for a rainy day or if tomorrow’s hunting session isn’t as extravagant. She may be moving her bowl around to hide some of the kibble underneath the dish or spill it out so she can move it to another spot. This way she knows that in case you never return after leaving for work, she has a stash for later on.
You probably don’t sit in the same chair in the same spot to eat every single meal. Sometimes it’s helpful to break up the monotony of eating at your dining room table and instead, feast in front of the television or at your office desk. This is also true for your canine pal in some cases. Before she feasts, she may push her bowl to an area that’s more acceptable to her. Maybe she wants to be closer to you, doesn’t like the sound the bowl makes when it slides across the floor while nibbling or simply wants to get her dish out of that blaring sunlight. If she always relocates her dish to the same area, it might be time to make that a permanent feeding spot. Clearly she prefers it.
Sometimes pushing around a food bowl can be a sign of vision problems. She’s moving around her dish to make the kibble stack up higher so she can see where it is. Or she has a hard time locating the exact spot of the dish each time she bows her head down, causing her to bump it with her nose each time she takes a bite. Tell your vet about Sofia’s behavior and get her vision checked, just to be on the safe side.
Melodie Anne Coffman specializes in overall wellness, with particular interests in womens health and personal defense. She holds a masters degree in food science and human nutrition and is a certified instructor through the NRA. Coffman is pursuing her personal trainer certification in 2015.