Oh so this is why some dogs carry their food away so it doesn t get stolen.
Why does my dog carry his food to the carpet.
Possible reasons behind the curious mealtime behavior.
I ve noticed that my dog does something odd during meal time.
It wants to be able to keep an eye on the rest of the food in the bowl.
My dog eats a lot and every time he sees someone eating he cries for food and gets really angry in having someone getting near his food.
Just as your dog will sit more and more if you give him food after he sits your dog will learn to move the food bowl around if that helps him get food.
Before dogs were domesticated they often ran in packs.
In simple words his behavior of pushing the bowl around is.
Typically the domestic dog doesn t take the food all that far away.
In other words whatever your dog does before getting his food will likely repeat in the future.
The problem is with the eating habits of the shih tzu she takes the pieces of her food out of the bowl and distributes them all over the floor even onto the living room carpet area.
Why does my cat keep knocking my things off the table.
Your dog knows when it s mealtime.
By feasting off the carpet he can relax when he eats maybe even lie down.
You put the food in the bowl and put it down then turn to the next task the next thing you know your dog is methodically taking his or her food across the room and dropping it onto the carpet where he or she then proceeds to start eating.
It s just the nature of things.
The answer to this propensity lies in two words.
Your dog wants to protect or hide the food.
If you ve ever seen your dog look like he is hiding food from the cat this might be why.
After i fill his bowl he ll scoop some food into his mouth run out of the kitchen drop the food on the living room rug and eat.
You could try elevating it a bit if the dog is not a deep chested dog to see if the dog adjusts and forsakes the carpet cruise for each mouthful.
Maybe he or she hovers around the bowl does a little dance and even drools on your shoe.
She does not.
Make sure he has a bowl big enough to fit his head in.
Julie albright keck dvm ma dacvb an assistant professor of veterinary behavior at the university of.
Some dogs particularly those in multi dog households may carry their food away as a way to keep it to themselves.
However even if you only have one dog in the home that instinct cou ld still be there.