My dog has a goofy habit of carrying food in her mouth away from her bowl, across the room sometimes even, and eats it there. The problem is she doesn't always eat it all and she likes to leave pieces scattered about. I believe my friend's chihuahua did it too, is this a common thing for small dogs? Is there any way to get them to stop? It's not a big deal, just a minor annoyance.
Have you ever considered moving her food to the other side of the room? Dogs have their idiosyncrasies just like people do - maybe she is more comfortable eating on the other side. My friend's dog used to walk in a circle to find just the right spot to enjoy the treats she gave him - could be really hilarious to watch him sometimes.
Haha, yes! Whenever I move her bowl, she still carries the food elsewhere! Sometimes she just carries food out of the kitchen to the carpet in the living room. Sometimes she carries it all the way to the other side of the couch. A few times, she's even jumped up on the couch! She carries a few pieces at a time in her mouth like a squirrel then drops them all out and then picks them back up one at a time and eats them.
One of my dogs does exactly the same thing! He is a rat terrier chihuahua mix. I even tried moving the bowl to the location he was bringing the food to, and he still took it further away. A dog behaviorist told me that this is normal, especially for small and/or submissive dogs. In the wild, a dog would take his share of fallen prey from the carcass and eat it at a distance to avoid another dog coming to eat from the carcass and challenging him. Basically, it was to avoid confrontation from another dog. I'm not sure how true this is, but it's the way he explained it! I thought it was very interesting. Anyway, he said that it's not indicative of anything that needs to be fixed, but if you really feel the need to make her stop, you can try feeding her in a quiet and more secluded spot - if that doesn't work, I have no idea. I just giggle at my dog because it's so strange!
Haha, it makes total sense. In fact, I kind of assumed that's why it was. Little dogs seem to have a lot of instincts to try to avoid detection or conflict. I don't too much mind, except she leaves little kibbles all over the room, but I've kind of just chalked that up as 'what can ya do' and just pick them up and put them back in the bowl when I see them.
My chow does the same thing but for bones. She always brings it to our woven carpet so I took the carpet away but she then brought it to another location. I can't say that my chow is submissive because she is a bit aloof sometimes. I hope somebody has suggestions on howto train this out. She also leaves bits of bone around the house and its embarrassing when friends come to visit.
(05-29-2013, 03:51 AM)trishgl Wrote: [ -> ]She always brings it to our woven carpet so I took the carpet away but she then brought it to another location.
My dog prefers standing on soft carpet to cold tile. That might be what your chow is doing too, trish? Is she taking the bone onto the rug because it's more soft and warm than the floor you'd prefer she stay on? I was thinking maybe you could create a little doggie bed or something for her she'd prefer to chew in instead of on your rug.
My chihuahua used to do the same thing! We now have a chihuahua, Jack Russel mix, and he does the same thing as well. I have read many reasons why they do that. But, it seems to be only small dogs that do it! I've read they do that because they are protecting their food from anyone else, including people or other pets such as a cat! I have also read they do that because they feel claustrophobic being so close to their bowl. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but that is what I have read on a couple different sites! I tried moving the dog bowl to a different room or a different area in the room and that didn't work for my dogs as well. One thing i didn't try was using a dog bowl for a big dog. Your dog may not feel as smothered while he's eating because there is more space. It's worth a try if you can find a bowl that is cheap!
Yeah, seems common amongst chihuahuas. I think it's funny really. I'm more curious now as to why she decides some pieces of food aren't worth eating after she takes them away from the bowl. At first, I thought maybe she kept singling the same pieces out and maybe they were stale, but eventually she will clean her bowl so she eats the ones she has discarded at some point earlier. I was considering trying to say NO! when she walks back to the bowl without eating the ones she's dropped. Maybe that could teach her not to leave them around? I'm not sure I should tell her NO while eating though, might confuse her. Like I said, it's not really a big deal, but I'd rather not have to pick up kibble strewn about the room all of the time. When she leaves them on the kitchen tile and you step on them, they make a bit of a mess. But hey, if that's the worst thing she does, I'm not complaining.
Yes, it seems to be a little dog "thing". Mine do it too.
My daughter's Chihuahua is the worst though. He would pick through the entire bowl to find the pieces he liked best, then carry them off to eat them in the living room or under the table. By the next day, only the pieces they don't like are left in the bowl. Luckily my found dog (found him as a puppy) happily eats everything.
Of course, until we started locking up the rat terrier at mealtimes, nobody was safe because she'd guard the dishes -- all five of them. We might've believed her dish guarding was a factor, except he did it before we got her.
Haha, yeah, I learned the hard way only to give a chihuahua one type of kibble at once. If you give them a mix of 2 brands, they'll pick one they like best and then they'll throw kibble all over the place and only eat the ones they want. I had a friend who bought a kibble mix, it was one bag but I guess the kibble was different shapes and flavors within it. His chihuahua would only eat certain pieces, and make a huge mess all over the floor with the rest. But under normal circumstances, where the bowl is full of the same brand of kibble, mine usually only leaves like 2-5 pieces laying around in the living room. I just can't for the life of me figure out what she's singling out the pieces she's not eating based on.