Food Bowl Ritual

[Marla Norton]

Since turning one, my doodle Zoe has developed an odd food bowl ritual. She approaches the bowl, touches her nose to the floor and behaves as though she were trying to push stray pieces of food into the bowl with her nose. She will do this a number of times with her nose starting at various spots around the base of the bowl, before finally taking a piece of food into the family room and eating it, returning the the kitchen and finally eating from the bowl. Sometimes she actually pushes the full bowl and moves it. My prior dog, a chow, would also bring one piece to a carpeted area and sample it first, but this nose-bowl routine is new to me. I found one Internet thread on a vet site that suggests it is submissive behavior, but it is not something that seems to generate much discussion. Has anyone else observed this behavior?

[F, Calla & Luca]

No. Luca usually needs his toy to drop and fool around with near the bowl before he starts eating. Calla is all business. She lies down, cradles the bowl with her paws and steadily eats.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

No, but I know of dogs that like to take their food out of the bowl and go somehwere else to eat it!  Since Zoe just takes one piece out and then goes back to eat, maybe she is testing her food:)  Libby will go to her bowl and smell to see what I fixed and if it isn't what she wants, she walks away.  She is getting picky about what she eats for breakfast, but never for her afternoon meal.  She will eat anything I fix at that time!  Go figure . . . . .

[Caleb Chun]

haha i know what you mean... when i give tobi his kibble for breakfast and i don't add either pumpkin or yogurt to it he just looks at it and looks at me with a look like "hey you forgot something" but than brunch/lunch/dinner time he just goes up to his kibble(with or without yogurt/pumpkin) and just eats away like normal haha...

[Gail and Bailey]

I had a dog who would do the nose pushing thing.  I always thought it looked as if he was trying to cover his food...like they do when they bury a bone.  My Bailey used to stand and bark at her food bowl and be afraid to go near it.  If the food was on the carpet she would eat it.  Now we just put her kibble on a carpet sample piece instead of a bowl and she happily eats her meals.  Obviously this would only work with kibble!  We also had to get rid of her stainless water bowl and replace it with ceramic because she would not drink from the stainless bowl.  I know I am indulgent with my girl...but it works for us!  LOL!

[Katie and Sophie]

Soph has to take a lap around our kitchen/living room (it makes a big circle) before she can sit down and think about eating her food. 

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Roo just chows down and then lays down facing away from Tigger but protecting his bowl.  Tigger waits for Roo to start and then I have to say okay and touch his back for some reason.  He eats steadily but much more slowly than Roo.  Then Tigger comes to tell me to they are done and I should pick up the bowls, so Roo will get up and play.

I did have a Siberian, Storm, who would deliberately remove two or three pieces of kibble from her bowl and place them about 12 inches out from the bowl.  Woe to the dog who thought those were offered to him.  Oh no, those were her pieces and she would finally eat them when she felt like it.  They would just lay there untouched by the other dog(s) until the queen ate them. 

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin requires an appetizer before getting down to the business of eating from his bowl.  I hand feed him a treat (usually a piece of sweet potato) and after he eats that I say "take it" and he may or may not get into his bowl. 

[DJ & Chance]

Chance prefers to "test" a bite of food from my finger before approaching his bowl.  

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna chows down right away :)  Pretty much head-in-bowl until it's finished.  

She does have a weird ritual AFTER she eats though.... She takes some water from her water bowl to get her mouth nice and wet then licks her food bowl clean.  She repeats this process a few times.  Silly dog.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

I have a Zoe too and she used to take her kibble into the living room (not far) to eat the kibble she took., then she would come back and repeat the process. I think it was because she wanted to eat on hthe rug not tile :). So now she always goes to her spot on the corner of the living room rug and I bring her bowl there haha. I do have a small kitchen mat for the sink area and that's Benders spot for meals. Who knew... Lol

[Marla Norton]

UPDATE:  After reading the recommendations in the food group, when we switched Zoe off her puppy food last month we switched to Orajen.  A bit of sticker shock there, it's $70.00 a bag, but Zoe LOVES it.  And as a result, she gobbles it up as soon as it hits the food bowl.  (She used to let her food sit in the bowl till she was ready to eat it.)  But no more taking a piece into the family room and no more head bobbing at the bowl.  The portion sizes are much smaller because there are no fillers and I feel a little badly that she wants more, but evidently she is taking no chances that someone else might eat her food.  She is an only dog, so there is no competition. : )