When dogs in the wild make a kill the outranked animals drag pieces of food away so they don t have to fight the leader or a more dominant canine for it says dr.
Why does my dog carry his food to the carpet.
Typically the domestic dog doesn t take the food all that far away.
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.
Your dog wants to protect or hide the food.
However even if you only have one dog in the home that instinct cou ld still be there.
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.
Julie albright keck dvm ma dacvb an assistant professor of veterinary behavior at the university of.
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.
If you ve ever seen your dog look like he is hiding food from the cat this might be why.
Before dogs were domesticated they often ran in packs.
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.
I ve noticed that my dog does something odd during meal time.
Why does my cat keep knocking my things off the table.
Your dog knows when it s mealtime.
It wants to be able to keep an eye on the rest of the food in the bowl.
The competition in the home might not be real but the instinct tells them to do it.
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.
In other words whatever your dog does before getting his food will likely repeat in the future.
It s just the nature of things.
In simple words his behavior of pushing the bowl around is.
Make sure he has a bowl big enough to fit his head in.
Some dogs particularly those in multi dog households may carry their food away as a way to keep it to themselves.
Oh so this is why some dogs carry their food away so it doesn t get stolen.
Possible reasons behind the curious mealtime behavior.
By feasting off the carpet he can relax when he eats maybe even lie down.
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.