Burying (bone, not dog)

[Guest Mutts4Me]

Don't want anyone to get the wrong idea over the subject line ;)

Sasha's 7 years old, we've had her for 6 years. The past couple months, she's gone through periods of wanting to bury her Meaty Bones. She'll walk around with one bulging out of her mouth, look at us, wag her tail, and whine. She'll wander around, wagging her tail and whining. Look around, as if trying to find a suitable place.

One time, she was so frantic I invited her on my bed, and I put her bone under my pillow. She seemed content with this for a while and relaxed, but then she started getting nervous, or something, because she started nosing the pillow. At first I thought she was trying to get her bone back, but then her nudging got more and more exaggerated, and I realized that she was making motions of trying to push dirt (or my comforter ;)) over top to make her bone more secure.

This only happens with her Meaty Bones, not the Milk Bones or the rawhides, and it only happens once in a while. But it's really weird because it's never happened before. She's had this little stuffed bootie that she will sometimes carry around with her, take to bed with her, and bring it out when she gets up in the morning. So she does form attachments to things, but we've never seen her want to bury anything, and especially not get so frantic over it.

It just puzzles us, and I finally promised I'd ask you guys about any ideas you might have... why she might be doing it, and maybe even how to help her chill out a little? She's pretty neurotic anyway, this just goes over the top ;)

[kendalyn]

Does she eventually eat the bone and how long does it take?

You could get her a kiddie pool filled with sand for the summer time. She could bury her bones in there if you think she's really bothered by the urge to bury her bone.

Will she bury her bone in the snow if you let her outside with it? The problem with that is that she might not find it again or another dog might wander in your yard and take it.

It doesn't sound like she's afraid you're going to take it away because she was happy for you to try and bury it for her. (That's pretty cute!) Maybe she's feeling a little insecure about her possesions since the addition of the new cats?

[abker17]

You could get her a kiddie pool filled with sand for the summer time. She could bury her bones in there if you think she's really bothered by the urge to bury her bone.

This is a great idea! At my old house we had a sandbox for the dogs, and they LOVED to lie in it, because the sand was cool and it would get really hot in the summers. Although it can be a problem if u're dog has longer hair, cause the sand will get caught up in it.

[mouseatthebusstop]

Paddy does it with his toys all the time but only inside in his bed, my bed anywhere he can cover them so they are safe

[Guest Mutts4Me]

[quote name='kendalyn']Does she eventually eat the bone and how long does it take?

Yeah, she does eat it... some times she can carry it around all day before finally eating it, but that's pretty normal. She's always done that, but it's only recently that she's started this burying fixation.

You could get her a kiddie pool filled with sand for the summer time. She could bury her bones in there if you think she's really bothered by the urge to bury her bone.[/quotte]

We generally don't let her take her bones outside because she does tend to forget about them, even if she doesn't bury them. We have a pretty decent sized yard, so if she really felt the urge to bury her bones, I guess she could do that in the yard. Definitely don't want her hanging out in a sandbox - like abker said, the sand would get lost in that fuzzy mess ;)

[quote] Maybe she's feeling a little insecure about her possesions since the addition of the new cats?

I'm kind of thinking that has something to do with it... Ya know, this wouldn't be a big deal if she'd just eat her treats when they're given to her, lol. I don't know what her deal is with that. She doesn't do toys, so it's not like there's anything for her to be possessive about, except these Meaty Bones which she carries around with her. Weirdo :roll:

[courtnek]

well, it could be the cats. Wolves bury bones and food as a "stash", intending to come back to them later when pickings are leaner. Same reason squirrels store nuts all summer. SO maybe she feels that the cats are a threat to her food supply somehow....and since the meaty bones are more meaty then regular bones or kibble, she may just be responding to an instinct to hide food for later if she needs it. Since sand wont work,
you could try a box with torn up blankets and old clothes, lots of layers so she could dig through it and cover it up with her nose. I would have said newspaper if not for the cats, but some cats will use newpaper as litter if given the chance.

[pei obssessed]

My Hippo, who doesn't try to bury anything else, wsa obssessed with burying her marrow bone too--she got one for Xmas, and she never showed any interest in eating it, but she was obssessed with burying it in her bed evrytime we'd take it out of there and hand it back to her :lol: The bone had to be burried in her bed! So maybe it's something about the bones that they want to bury them... who know, dogs are just weird :roll:

[bk_blue]

BK only ever started burying his bones when he started hanging out with Lizie... he never, ever did when Rinny was alive... weird :-? maybe we can start a "weird dogs" forum? (oh wait, we already have :lol: )