# Carry food out of Bowl?



## Frostypaws (Nov 1, 2007)

Hey Guys, 


Ever since I got her, my dog will take small mouthfuls of food out of her bowl, walk a few feet away, drop it all on the carpet, then eat it one piece at a time. (?!) I have no idea why she doesn't eat directly from the bowl. We tried moving the bowls a couple times, but it is always the same. Anyone else have a dog that does this?


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Sometimes, it's the bowl. Metal bowls can give dogs static electricity shocks. Some dogs don't like the taste of plastic bowls. Ceramic seems to be the best choice but, bowl size is also important. Another important part may be the food. If it's not very good, chances are they will just nibble at it. Most dogs will wolf down high quality dog food with gusto.


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## xxxlisaxxx (Oct 15, 2007)

TooneyDogs said:


> Sometimes, it's the bowl. Metal bowls can give dogs static electricity shocks. Some dogs don't like the taste of plastic bowls. Ceramic seems to be the best choice but, bowl size is also important. Another important part may be the food. If it's not very good, chances are they will just nibble at it. Most dogs will wolf down high quality dog food with gusto.


 hmmmmmmmm how interesting, my dog who is 2 has also always taken his food from his bowl and ate it from the rug thats located near it AND HIS BOWL IS METAL!!!!! Blimey Im only a few weeks on this forum and i have learnt so much about dogs its uncanny!!!!!! I just thought my dog was a total slob when it came to eating


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## rsculady (Jun 23, 2007)

Both of my JRT's used to do that. They were getting high quality food and that did not matter. We tried different bowls but it did not matter either. That was just the way they ate.


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## Zack_the_Mouse (Oct 2, 2007)

For my Dog the bowl holds the food and thats all its good for. She has to carry her mouthful of kibble to where every we are in the house and eat it there and go back for more.


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## Frostypaws (Nov 1, 2007)

I didn't know that about the bowls! She has plastic ones, maybe I will try changing them to ceramic...of course, she could just be a neurotic little dog  . I am glad to know that other people also have dogs that do the same thing!


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## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

TooneyDogs said:


> Sometimes, it's the bowl. Metal bowls can give dogs static electricity shocks. Some dogs don't like the taste of plastic bowls. Ceramic seems to be the best choice but, bowl size is also important. Another important part may be the food. If it's not very good, chances are they will just nibble at it. Most dogs will wolf down high quality dog food with gusto.


I disagree...my dog does the same thing, and her food bowl is ceramic, and she's fed Canidae at the moment (next month: Chicken Soup or California Naturals). 

She used to just wolf it down like she was starving, but as she realized that she's no longer living in a ditch, and that I will feed her in the morning and evening every single day, she slowed down, and now she does what the OP described. It's better than having a canine Hoover, but I do wish she wouldn't drop it on the carpet.


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## Kayla (Oct 15, 2007)

My Sammy does that and her bowl is ceramic. I wouldnt worry about it, its healthier for dogs to eat more slowly anyway.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

My mother's dog, a shi-tzu that is older than dirt, does that. I don't know what she eats, but it has several colors and shapes of kibble. (I have a feeling it's a very bad food, but the dog is truly ancient and apparently healthy, so who am I to tell my mother she's mistreating her dog?)

The dog will take a few pieces of kibble, scatter them on the floor and play with certain shapes before eating them. If she doesn't have an appreciative audience, she won't touch the food at all.

If Esther happens to be around (and we try to avoid having them together for all sorts of reasons) Esther will walk by the shi-tzu's dish and inhale whatever food is left without breaking stride.


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## Frostypaws (Nov 1, 2007)

RonE said:


> The dog will take a few pieces of kibble, scatter them on the floor and play with certain shapes before eating them. If she doesn't have an appreciative audience, she won't touch the food at all.
> 
> If Esther happens to be around (and we try to avoid having them together for all sorts of reasons) Esther will walk by the shi-tzu's dish and inhale whatever food is left without breaking stride.


 Ha ha, she plays with the shapes? How cute  . I also notice that my dog usually only eats when both me and my boyfriend are home. I am not sure if that has anything to do with it or not...


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## luvmyBT (Nov 13, 2007)

yep...mine does it too... i usually leave it be and catch him munchin it later on....


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## Chicalen1 (Oct 3, 2007)

Chici use to do this to but ever since I got Sofi he has figured out that he better eat his food out of his bowl and not leave his bowl because if he does Sofi will eat what ever he leaves. 

Amanda


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Neither of my current dogs drag kibble out of their bowls...so I am grateful! I have had other dogs...or rather my family has had other dogs do this though; as long as they are actually eating it, I am usually fine with it, but if they are simply dragging it out and leaving it, I pick it up, put it back in the dish and pick the dish up for a while. But seeing as I personally don't leave food for my dogs free choice, that is probably a good reason why they don't develop this habit anyway; they get 15 minutes to eat, and then they get their dish picked up and then they get another chance at their next meal. 

One of my kitties likes to take kibble out of the dish and play with it though...very disconcerting to walk into the bathroom at night and nearly trip on teeny round kibble...It hurts...Lol!!!!


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## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

I only feed my dog twice and day, and she also gets it picked up if she hasn't eaten it yet...something I've only have to do once (day after her spaying). Yet she still makes time to strew it all over the place lol. As long as I shut her crate door she mostly keeps it inside, it's when I feed her in there and leave the door open that she starts redecorating the place with kibble


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## echo8287 (Jul 5, 2007)

My daughter's Yorkie does this also. Only she does it one piece at a time. Sometimes she plays with the food or rolls on it before she eats it. One day she was throwing it up in the air on the sofa and it fell off the side and went under the sofa. She hopped off the sofa, surveyed the situation. There was a rug that was preventing her from getting the piece with her mouth. She reached under the sofa with her front paw and started moving the piece of food toward the end of the sofa. I watched as she moved it, backed up, moved it and so forth till she had it at the end of the sofa . She pulled it out and ate it. I was amazed at the thought process as I watched, David


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## natureloverchris (Nov 11, 2007)

Coal used to carry his food into the living room, a few pieces at a time. So did his sister Sheba. Since Sheba lived with friends in a very different environment we figured it was a genetic trait.

Schmoozer, likes to tip the bowl over and then eat it off the floor. I've tried many different bowls on him. Since he eats the food I don't really mind. Schmoozer has also carried bones and placed them in the bowl. He's a bit of a nut


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## Hound Bound (Nov 4, 2007)

My aussie does the sma ething, though I'm not sure why. He refuses to eat out of a bowl, so we put his food on a plastic plate  I always figured it was becaue he came from the pound and he'd take food from the 'trough' so that he'd have some of his own away from his kennelmates, incase they decided not to share. If so many other dogs are doing the same thing though, it's possible it has nothing to do with his short stay at the pound.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

It could be the type of bowl. My dogs have ceramic bowls that are washed and dried after every meal. I won't buy plastic, and they didn't like eating out of the stainless steel (flipped them so the food went on the floor).


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## faron (Sep 10, 2013)

After doing some research and readings, I tried various alternatives so Tito my Chihuahua would not bark at his food bowl any more. I now realize that he barks at his bowl out of "frustration but hungry" because his whiskers is wider (beginning of his longest left whisker to end of his longest right whisker) than the bowl. It ticks him when trying to eat. So, I switch to ceramic flat plate (even though it does seem weird in my sight) - he stopped barking at his food. Logically because his whiskers weren't bothering him any more while he dines. Fantastic.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

welcome to my house..... it started with Ra,,, trying to carry off every ones bowls and spilling the food the whole way never learning why there was no food in the bowl when he laid down to eat it... ( lol) then he would lay down and reach his paw out to flip another's bowl over.... then everyone picked it up and does it too... it's comical in it's own way.. but not the worst thing they could do as a group so I just shake my head..


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## aburgess88 (Jul 29, 2013)

I have had multiple dogs do this! I think it was just the way they liked to eat.


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

Buffy does that sometimes, and I think she picked it up from my parents' dog, Trixie. They both know the command "clean up those crumbs" for when they leave a few stray pieces.

Buff eats from a ceramic bowl and is eating Annamaet food. Trixie usually eats from a flat paper plate, and (unfortunately) is on Science Diet.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

My dogs don't do this but I have seen dogs that do. Well Roxie will occasionally but usually if it's raw or I've handed her a scrap.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

A few of my dogs take a mouthful of food and carry it somewhere to eat it. All my dogs are on self-feeding so never have to guard the food or worry about someone else coming over as they all know that there is always food available.


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## JeJo (Jul 29, 2013)

What an interesting observation, Faron! I would never have thought to look at whiskers as a cause of barking at the bowl. Easy fix, feeding off from a flat plate. Thank you for sharing.

Re: carrying food out of the bowl. My late cocker-mix always carried a small mouthful of food into the next room to drop on the floor and eat. I just chalked it up as a small quirk that we could live with. After reading Faron's whisker post, though, I now wonder if that might have factored in with Maggie's carry offs (although her whiskers were buried in fur.)


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## PragueRatter (Aug 6, 2013)

When Jaques was on raw meat, he wanted to drag it out of his bowl and across the floor, which was for obvious reasons, very unhygienic. We live in a very open plan apartment which means, finding a half eaten fish head under the sofa was a fairly common occurrence. 

Now (for other reasons) he is on a good quality kibble, he eats it straight from the bowl. He does however, take his kibble and drop it in his water dish. I do put water in his kibble btw.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

My dogs carry their food over and drop it on the carpet because they are plain picky. They eat the good stuff out of the bowl ... and then go back and clean the carpet up. Leah Lu also dumps her bowl of water from her crate .... either on the carpet or in the crate ... and then brings it to me to have it filled again! Lol! 

My dogs all have heavy ceramic bowls. :/

You are not alone! Lol!


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## GrinningDog (Mar 26, 2010)

I've known two dogs to do this. The first was a Jack Russell Terrier and the second was also a terrier (mix, maybe JRT), that replaced the first in the same household when she died. They were both fed near to a HIGHLY food obsessed Rat Terrier. Both also took food from their bowl, sometimes carrying it from the kitchen to the carpeted living room. I always contributed the behavior to intimidation. Though he never stole, the food motivated RT always finished his food and then hovered while the other dog ate. Neither JRT was a good, reliable eater.


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