My 5 month old GSD is almost finished teething. He is on a raw diet. Last week a bought him a couple of rawhide bones and similar stuff so he could chew them, but he's not interested. Instead, he takes the bone and looks for a place where he can hide it, and then covers it with whatever clothing article he finds. He barks and looks very angry while doing this. If I put him in his crate with the bone, same thing. I took him to the park where there is an area with sand, gave him the rawhide bone, and he started digging, put the bone in the hole and covered it up.

It is kind of funny to watch, specially because he barks and acts frustrated. But sometimes I just want him to leave me alone and would like for him to chew on something for an hour instead of going to his crate.

Same thing happens with a marrow bone.

Do your dogs act this way?

I would skip the rawhide. That is not good stuff.....
Have you tried a kong with peanut butter in it? I mix peanut butter or cream cheese with the small Zukes treat and then stuff it in the kong.....
Teach him to eat it in his crate with the door open. My dogs all go to their crates when they get something to chew on and they stay in there without shutting the door.

My Bloodhound buries stuff, but is pretty quiet about it since he is trying to hide it for later......

Joe,

Uga doesn't act this way, but we only give nylon-type chewing bones. Marrow bones (chicken legs and such) are for meals, and rawhide, well, just not our thing.

I've seen many dogs do this, however, and my only thought would be that the dog is trying to soften the bone by burying it, so it will be not as painful to chew.

Luck!
-Jim

I have a pack of 3 dogs, and I've never seen them bury bones before..or maybe I've haven't caught them doing it. I keep my personal dog in a crate, and my sister keeps both her dogs in a outdoor kennel.

Occasionally, she will feed them bones, and I always find a bone or two scattered around. I guess they don't bury them after all.

I do know for a fact that wolves bury leftovers after they've stuffed themselves. They do this to protect their meal from others, and to retrieve it when they feel hungry again. Dogs still carry this very same trait. I've heard of dogs that go as far as burying toys.

I remember my dog was 8 weeks old when he started showing this trait. It was adorable. I handed him his first marrow bone I guess the second day I had him. I happened to give it to him on a patio that was not quite complete. He immediately dropped it in a hole that was maybe 8 inches deep and he tried so hard to cover it up with rock fragments, etc. He was too little to really do the job right. It was too cute. He looked concerned . I'm not kidding.

I swore to him I wouldn't take it and he relaxed a bit .

Now at 2 years old, if I give him any bone, he wants to hide it; inside, outside, doesn't matter. And if outside, he'll walk around for several minutes with it in his mouth looking for the perfect location. Just last week he was walking around outside with a massive buffalo knuckle bone in his mouth searching for that one great spot. He'd get tired of holding and searching so he'd drop it and rest a few seconds and then start the search again.

Sometimes he'll bury it just to dig it up immediately and go find a better spot .

He loves balls and we play with them everyday but he also hides them. I can't tell you how many ball runs I've made to the store because they just keep disappearing!

Joe,
I have never seen my dogs bury bones but turned some dirt over the other day to plant grass seed and dug up a small piece of bone about 3 inches long so I guess at some point one of my dogs has done it. Also, my vet gave my dog a rawhide treat one day and it gave him serious diarrhea. I am not trying to tell you what to do with your dogs but rawhide is generally not good in my opinion.

So funny

Before I knew better, when my dog was a pup, I used to give him rawhide. It was a good babysitter and he would chew on them for quite a while.

Then one day all of a sudden, for some unknown reason, he would not chew on them, but immediatly burry them. He would hold it in his mouth and go to the door and whine until let out and scout the yard for burrial grounds. If we did not open the door, he would run around frantically and hide it inside somewhere.

He never retreived them to chew later.

Around the same time he started the same thing with small plastic pop bottles. We used to use them as a cheap fun motivational toy for obedience when he was a pup, he used to LOVE playing with and chewing them.

Then one day all of a sudden, he would not play with them, only whine and run around holding it looking for a spot to burry/hide them. Weird.

Funny if you follow him while he is hiding it, he will dig it back up and move it if he thinks you were watching!

He looked like he wanted to do that a couple of times with rec bones. I ensure that he does not by making sure I feed them when he is hungry, and I hold on to it for a minute and let him get into chewing it a bit, and then he does not want to burry it, rather he will chew on it.

I have seen him burry a rec bone after chewing it for a long time (if it is not finished). Unlike the rawhide and pop bottles, he will go back to the raw bone.

Strange,


I wonder about this behavior???

Joe, I'd skip the rawhide too. A kong filled with cream cheese or peanut butter like Carol said is good, but you might want to stuff it, then freeze it, cause I doubt it would buy you an hour, maybe 5 minutes, if not at least frozen

I have the same problem, trying to find something my 11 mo old can chew on that won't crack his teeth but will let him just lay at my feet for ANY extended period of time. It would be so wonderful. He always needs to be chewing on something, he never just relaxes unless he's in his crate.

My Mal will spend an hour or so squishing a medium Orbee ball with the rope removed. She thinks those are great.
Gotta have a dog that likes to work their jaw out like that. She does not destroy them at all, but rather flattens and releases over and over and over...... Makes you wonder what she is wanting to really chew on....HA HA

Lear loves his toys (excuse me, MY toys ), but only to chase them, unless they're made of fabric which he'll chew on and swallow. If he would chew on his Orbee ball, that would be great. The only chewing on the Orbee was to remove all the raised designs. When that was done, he lost interest and proceeded to use a leg of the coffee table to gnaw on.....it's this destructive urge or something.

I hope he outgrows it...I've often wondered if it's because he didn't get to nurse enough or what! :laugh: