Why do dogs bury stuff in the ground? - Updated on September 29th,2011
**Updated area in red.Video was added.
In the past, when I visited our neighbor who had Rottweiler/Chow mix, I always brought something for their dog and pet her.
Very first time I met her, since I had never had a dog in my life and, I was just going through experience of taking care of puppy;"Palette", her size was overwhelming but,turned out, she was very gentle, friendly dog and, 120lb dog and Palette, the Corgi, had fabulous play time together. She was the very first greeter when I visit them, and escort me to their entrance door and I gave her special treats.
Occasionally, I saw her going out to the yard, digging the hole, and buried the treats I brought. I have never seen our dog "Palette" bury her stuff,but it got me thinking why dogs bury stuff.
Why dogs bury bones,food,treats etc in the ground?
According to the article written by Virginia Wells at petplace website, dogs bury bones,food,treats in the ground because of their hereditary and their natural instinct.
She writes that often times, they find themselves with more food than they can eat, but then, they are not sure when the food supply would be available. So, they bury bones,food etc to be on the safe side.
This behavior is called "Catch and hoarding", and good example is squirrels,Virginia writes. Squirrels run around the yard collecting all the acorns and nuts they can collect to survive through the long winter.
Domesticated dogs still carry the catching trait and bury the bones etc in the yard to be sure on safe side for food supplies.
To read her full article at petplace website,please click here .
Another website "Sarah's dog" explains that before dogs were domesticated and when dogs were living in the wild, dogs had to compete with other animals for food,so they had to come up with the idea of keeping the food safe from other predators, and keeping the food for later.
The article says that since buried food keep at cold temperature away from the sun, and free from insect or flies, burying the food was practical for dogs at the time.This behavior/trait was carried by domesticated dogs today. It is a self preserve natural instinct,the article says.
To read the full article at Sarah's dog website,please click here .
I think that maybe some dogs find buried meats/bone in the ground that were aged naturally taste better/finer for the dogs today,too.
There are dry aged beef steak for human, and I have never tasted dry aged steak but it is said to have superb taste.
According to wikipedia website , aging break down the connective tissue in the meat, and dry aged beef is beef that has been hung for several weeks in near freezing temperature.
This dry aging remove the moisture from the beef, and it concentrate the flavor of the beef. Then, dry aging break down the connective tissue in the meat and,it makes very tender beef.
Therefore, while aging process for the steak for human consumption would never be in the ground,buried but, maybe burying meat in the ground in the cold temperature may produce the similar result to wet aging (meat is vacuum packed and aged with moisture) the beef steak for restaurants. Maybe buried meat could become tender and tastier for dogs too.
Offering your dogs opportunities to let their pent up energy out..
Dogs need exercise. Both mental and physical exercise. Those exercise can stimulate your dogs and fulfill your dogs' need of exercise.
Through those mental/physical exercise, you can have opportunities to teach them good dog manner in our human world.
You will always hear that tired dogs are happy dogs, and it really is true.
Give your dogs a lot of opportunities to let their pent up energy out through both physical and mental exercise.
When dogs are not getting enough exercise, they would find something to do on their own.
What you can do for mental exercise? You can read up on mental exercise in the previous entry titled "Mental Exercise for your dogs".
"Find the toys/treats" in the sandbox..
As I wrote in the previous entry titled " Look at the world through a dog's point of view; barking,chewing,and more ",I wrote that most of common dog behavior problems you would like to stop or curb them are natural canine behaviors or something we kept reinforcing the behavior without any intention, and I wrote one example for digging problem.
Digging in the yard, making huge holes to sniff or bury is also natural behavior of dogs. It just not something we human would appreciate it if they dug in beautiful flower garden or vegetable garden.
With digging problem,you can offer place where they are allowed to dig. You can make digging space by putting sand in the wooden box. Then, bury some jackpot treats or toys in them.
You could let your dog sit-stay, and show them you are burying the goodies or toys in the sand. Then,release your dog with cue "Find it". They should come running to the sand box and would start digging the sandbox to their heart content and, every time they find something in there, you can praise them and do the game again and again.
Since you do not want to fill their tummy with treats, you would limit the amount of treats you hide them and more toys like balls or Frisbee,which you can play with them after they found the ball/Frisbee as rewards would be nice.
It is also good to praise your dog even if you are not hiding any treats or toys in the sandbox every time you find them digging the place they are allowed to dig;Sand box. Just like crate training, you can toss the treats or play their favorite games together as unexpected rewards after praising the good behavior.
I sometime give Palette "Come" cue when she is least expected like when I am reading newspaper or watching TV. She usually comes trot to me as if "What happen?", and when she comes over to me and sit down, magically I get very tiny piece of treats and toss it to her praising her "Good girl".
As last note, if you live near the beach where dogs are allowed, you can hide toys and treats on the beach and let them dig to their heart content.
I came across youtube video where Ginger, the Vizsla, digging on the beach. She sure seemed to have a blast digging on the beach
I wonder if she found something down there,lol.
Ginger the vizsla digging on the beach..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Do your dogs bury items?
What are the most weird object your dogs buried in the ground?
In the past, when I visited our neighbor who had Rottweiler/Chow mix, I always brought something for their dog and pet her.
Very first time I met her, since I had never had a dog in my life and, I was just going through experience of taking care of puppy;"Palette", her size was overwhelming but,turned out, she was very gentle, friendly dog and, 120lb dog and Palette, the Corgi, had fabulous play time together. She was the very first greeter when I visit them, and escort me to their entrance door and I gave her special treats.
Occasionally, I saw her going out to the yard, digging the hole, and buried the treats I brought. I have never seen our dog "Palette" bury her stuff,but it got me thinking why dogs bury stuff.
Why dogs bury bones,food,treats etc in the ground?
According to the article written by Virginia Wells at petplace website, dogs bury bones,food,treats in the ground because of their hereditary and their natural instinct.
She writes that often times, they find themselves with more food than they can eat, but then, they are not sure when the food supply would be available. So, they bury bones,food etc to be on the safe side.
This behavior is called "Catch and hoarding", and good example is squirrels,Virginia writes. Squirrels run around the yard collecting all the acorns and nuts they can collect to survive through the long winter.
Domesticated dogs still carry the catching trait and bury the bones etc in the yard to be sure on safe side for food supplies.
To read her full article at petplace website,please click here .
Another website "Sarah's dog" explains that before dogs were domesticated and when dogs were living in the wild, dogs had to compete with other animals for food,so they had to come up with the idea of keeping the food safe from other predators, and keeping the food for later.
The article says that since buried food keep at cold temperature away from the sun, and free from insect or flies, burying the food was practical for dogs at the time.This behavior/trait was carried by domesticated dogs today. It is a self preserve natural instinct,the article says.
To read the full article at Sarah's dog website,please click here .
I think that maybe some dogs find buried meats/bone in the ground that were aged naturally taste better/finer for the dogs today,too.
There are dry aged beef steak for human, and I have never tasted dry aged steak but it is said to have superb taste.
According to wikipedia website , aging break down the connective tissue in the meat, and dry aged beef is beef that has been hung for several weeks in near freezing temperature.
This dry aging remove the moisture from the beef, and it concentrate the flavor of the beef. Then, dry aging break down the connective tissue in the meat and,it makes very tender beef.
Therefore, while aging process for the steak for human consumption would never be in the ground,buried but, maybe burying meat in the ground in the cold temperature may produce the similar result to wet aging (meat is vacuum packed and aged with moisture) the beef steak for restaurants. Maybe buried meat could become tender and tastier for dogs too.
Offering your dogs opportunities to let their pent up energy out..
Dogs need exercise. Both mental and physical exercise. Those exercise can stimulate your dogs and fulfill your dogs' need of exercise.
Through those mental/physical exercise, you can have opportunities to teach them good dog manner in our human world.
You will always hear that tired dogs are happy dogs, and it really is true.
Give your dogs a lot of opportunities to let their pent up energy out through both physical and mental exercise.
When dogs are not getting enough exercise, they would find something to do on their own.
What you can do for mental exercise? You can read up on mental exercise in the previous entry titled "Mental Exercise for your dogs".
"Find the toys/treats" in the sandbox..
As I wrote in the previous entry titled " Look at the world through a dog's point of view; barking,chewing,and more ",I wrote that most of common dog behavior problems you would like to stop or curb them are natural canine behaviors or something we kept reinforcing the behavior without any intention, and I wrote one example for digging problem.
Digging in the yard, making huge holes to sniff or bury is also natural behavior of dogs. It just not something we human would appreciate it if they dug in beautiful flower garden or vegetable garden.
With digging problem,you can offer place where they are allowed to dig. You can make digging space by putting sand in the wooden box. Then, bury some jackpot treats or toys in them.
You could let your dog sit-stay, and show them you are burying the goodies or toys in the sand. Then,release your dog with cue "Find it". They should come running to the sand box and would start digging the sandbox to their heart content and, every time they find something in there, you can praise them and do the game again and again.
Since you do not want to fill their tummy with treats, you would limit the amount of treats you hide them and more toys like balls or Frisbee,which you can play with them after they found the ball/Frisbee as rewards would be nice.
It is also good to praise your dog even if you are not hiding any treats or toys in the sandbox every time you find them digging the place they are allowed to dig;Sand box. Just like crate training, you can toss the treats or play their favorite games together as unexpected rewards after praising the good behavior.
I sometime give Palette "Come" cue when she is least expected like when I am reading newspaper or watching TV. She usually comes trot to me as if "What happen?", and when she comes over to me and sit down, magically I get very tiny piece of treats and toss it to her praising her "Good girl".
As last note, if you live near the beach where dogs are allowed, you can hide toys and treats on the beach and let them dig to their heart content.
I came across youtube video where Ginger, the Vizsla, digging on the beach. She sure seemed to have a blast digging on the beach
I wonder if she found something down there,lol.Ginger the vizsla digging on the beach..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Do your dogs bury items?
What are the most weird object your dogs buried in the ground?
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