Why Do Dogs Bury Bones?

For you to understand why do dogs bury bones, it’s necessary to have a glimpse on the way in which wolves hunt in the wild.

Small preys including mice are chased, stalked, and pounced upon by single wolves working for themselves. These pounces trap the prey under the front feet. Then, it seized and bitten quickly after which it’s gobbled down.

Bigger preys like rabbits are treated in the same manner. If preys of this size are hard, these might be shaken vigorously, yet typically some bites are all that’s needed to subdue this. Medium-sized preys like small deer and sheep are killed through throat bites.

The burying process consists of digging holes with the front feet while clasping the meat in jaws. When the cavity is huge enough, the wolf opens its jaws and allows the meat drop into it. Then, they use their snout to push the soil back on top.

Once the hole is already covered, they make some pressing down movement with their snout and wander off. They will return the following day, digging up the meat with their front feet, then grab that using their jaws to eat.

Why Do Dogs Bury Bones?

When it comes to dogs, it’s now clear to assume what conditions should be present to encourage them to bury food. First and foremost, there should be food surplus. Hungry dogs eat everything they could. Only if there’s something left over that couldn’t be eaten would be carried into the backyard and buried.

Commercial dog foods even in homes where dogs are overfed by their owners are impossible to hold and carry in the jaws while digging a hole. That is why dogs that are fed only with soft food in dog bowls won’t have the chance to bury anything. However, if they’re provided with big bones they do have something they could hide in the hole.

The main reason why bones are famous as the burying object is that though the dogs in question aren’t overfed and don’t have any food surplus, a big bone that’s impossible to break up and eat, has about the essential quality of the food object that can’t be eaten easily. It has a leftover quality that persuades even hungry dogs to bury bones.

Several pet dogs that are overfed with soft foods may be seen performing a strange remnant of burying foods. They know a dish of surplus food is great food, yet they’re not hungry, so they attempt to just bury the whole food in a room.

See dog bury bones in action:

Stop Your Dog From Burying Bones

If you don’t like your dog to bury bones in your backyard, there are some options you can consider to stop them. One of these is training him properly and disciplining him that it’s not good to bury bones. If you do not have more time to train your dog, you can always hire someone to do it for you.