Havanese Forum banner

Eating Habits

6K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  Eddie 
#1 ·
Over the years, we have had several dogs: 3 golden retrievers, a yorkshire terrier and now Shadow, our havanese.

None of the other dogs would gather a mouthful of food from their bowl, carry it to another part of the house (usually near one of us) drop the food on the floor in thier new found eating location and consume it there as Shadow does and then venture back to the bowl and repeat the exercise until either we move or he is done eating.

Have others experienced eating habits like these?
 
#4 ·
I think it's a small dog thing. We had a very small mixed breed dog when I was a kid (looked very much like dogs in the havanese/bichon family but much smaller) who did this and both my parents Maltese and Bichon did it. Brody doesn't do it so much, but I live in a small apartment and he can always see me from his food spot.
 
#7 ·
Rosie is terrible about it. I keep a bowl of kibble upstairs and one in the kitchen. She will eat out of the bowl as long as I am in the room with her, but if I leave she does the mouthful at my feet thing. Then I noticed that if I went upstairs she just didn't eat. So I keep kibble in both places now. Usually it is at her Daddy's feet not mine.
 
#15 ·
We've had visiting dogs stay with us that had that habit when they first came here. Every one of them found out after a couple of meals that it didn't work to their benefit here, eating with a dozen or so other dogs. If you drop something on the floor here, daly over eating, or look away from your bowl-you loose.

The current one, Bunny, staying with us for a month, now is good at gaurding her bowl without any stress about it. She hasn't dropped food outside her bowl since the first day.
 
#17 ·
We've had visiting dogs stay with us that had that habit when they first came here. Every one of them found out after a couple of meals that it didn't work to their benefit here, eating with a dozen or so other dogs. If you drop something on the floor here, daly over eating, or look away from your bowl-you loose.

The current one, Bunny, staying with us for a month, now is good at gaurding her bowl without any stress about it. She hasn't dropped food outside her bowl since the first day.
That's how Kodi learned to be a good eater too... When I go away I home-board him with my groomer, who has 3 dogs of her own. Even though she Put Kodi in an ex-pen for meals when he was younger and not used to her gang, just the feeling that someone MIGHT get his food taught him to eat right up!:biggrin1:
 
#18 · (Edited)
Generally if they bring it from the bowl closer to people ,it's a sign they feel comfortable eating around you and like your company. If they are carrying it away from humans it tends to be a form of resource guarding. Which in itself is perfectly normal to a degree. A lot of dogs will take the more valuable foods away to consume. My Molly will even do this with a larger treat that she needs a few seconds to chew . Never assume your dog doesn't resource guard. Especially if the resource is something they really enjoy. More family members have been bitten over food protecting dogs, than you can shake a bone at.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top