Dog won't eat out of food dish?

Question

One of our dogs has some issue with eating out of her food dish. What she does is she grabs a mouthful of food, walks over near us, spits it out on the floor, and eats it near us. We've placed her food dish closer to use when she eats leaving her to put it on the floor next to her dish. We got a new dog last May who has no problem eating out of the food dish. As it's probably too late to get this behavior out of her (she's done this for about two and a half years now) could anyone at least explain why she might be doing this? She didn't do this when we first got her and at this point we are living fine with this oddity.

Answer 1

Both of my dogs (one puppy one dog) do the same thing. I asked the vet about this and they said they just want to be closer to you. They are showing you they are eating what you gave them. Also, do you notice they eat when you eat? This could be another reason why. They want to eat with you.

Answer 2

Some dogs just like to do that. My Maltese would take her food piece by piece into the other room and eat it. Even if we moved the bowl into that room she would just go to the other side of the room. My current dog plays with hers before eating it....

I would just let it be. As long as she's eating and doing well, i wouldn't change the food at all - that might just give her an upset tummy.

Answer 3

The thing is maybe she is not happy with eating food that has touched the ground and she is so clean and smart. Try putting all her food in the food bowl and maybe she will eat. Who knows.

Answer 4

While I can't explain it, I don't think this problem is all that odd.  I have 3 dogs, and 2 of mine frequently grab food out of the food dish, walk away, drop it on the floor, and then eat it off the floor.  I think they tend to grab more in their mouth than what they can actually handle, so they drop it and eat smaller amounts.  I think they grab so much to keep the others from eating it, but can't say for sure.  Just make sure you keep your floor clean!  There's nothing worse than stepping on soggy dog food!

Answer 5

My dog used to do this too. I think it stems from being a dog in a multi-dog family, or large litter--where the food must be protected while it's being eaten. (My dog came from another family who had multiple dogs.)

Dogs are pack animals, who would live in groups in the wild--and one dog would be "alpha" --that is, in charge of eating first, having the best choice of mates or places to sleep, etc. When there is more than one dog in a family, one of the dogs will also be alpha. The alpha dog would usually eat first, maybe taking its food to another location so the other animals did not have easy access to it or steal it away from him--which would usurp the alpha's position. When the dogs feel competitive for food, (even when you feed them both the same) one of them will often remove its food to another location before eating.

Even when there is only the one dog in the family like mine,  behavior while eating is already been established--and he would take his food elsewhere before eating.  

Answer 6

There is a possibility that she is kinda bored with the food,  try a different brand.  My 2 year old dog was feeding on a puppy kibble and when he ate it, he would always "scratch" his food out, then eat it.  When the food ran out, we got him an adult kibble and he LOVED it.  If thats not it, try giving her a different plate.  Maybe she just can't eat properly out of the bowl you gave her.

Answer 7

My dogs do that sometimes.  We think it is strange, but it didn't matter to us as long as they were eating.  Our new puppy got a new toy, and she was trying to eat and keep hold of her new dolly.  Now that was funny.  She finally had to put her dolly down to get a drink of water, then she slobbered all over her toy.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Maybe you could put her food on a plate instead of a bowl.