Why do dogs push their food dish around?

she likes playing with it, dogs have an innate prey drive and they will play with their food sometimes before and during the time they are eating it.

She's hoping that just maybe there is something better than dog food hidden under it. Well, OK I'll start over. Maybe, just maybe, she doesn't like the shape of the bowl it may be not the most convenient shape for her to eat out of. Having just a dog brain she doesn't know it is a permanent shape. But more than likely it is just an inherited behavior left over from before dogs trained humans to be pet owners. Back then the dog (or dawg, or even dogg, spelling having not been domesticated yet) ate things it killed or found already dead. Sometimes the prey might not be quite dead yet and might try to bite back so Dog would need to check and one way to check was just give it a push and see if it moved. If the food was pre-killed, it might have been layin around for a while and have some parts that were just a bit too ripe to eat so a good sniff search was advised before eating, so Dog would push it around and sniff to make sure. And there are other things that chow down on 'found' food, some of them are carrion beetles which crawl underneath smaller dead animals like mice and even bigger and start digging and bury the critter, where they set up underground domesticity and raise a family of larvae. Those beetles can bite! So dog would shove the carcass around some to see if somebody else had first claim. That shoving around doesn't really matter much anymore but she doesn't know that, in fact she doesn't even think about it, its just an inherited instinctual thing. Or then again, maybe she just doesn't like the presentation. I sometimes gotta turn my plate when a waiter sets it in front of me in a restaurant, its impolite to do that as a guest in a private home, but what are you gonna do when there is a possibility of dripping garlicky butter as you carry the fork of beans over the applesauce? Or reaching over the pile of smashed taters and gravy with the knife to cut off a chunk o' roast beast? Course Dog don't usually worry about that, they disdain manners and the knife and just chomp right down, mouthfull of beans/taters/beast/sauce all at once and gravy all over her face.

Try a Kong, I read something on dog Kongs that made me want to utilize the use of a Kong for feeding more than I have been doing in the past.

Kongs require your dog or pup to exercise more of a mental effort in the feeding process distractring them from doing more disruptive/compulsive behaviors like pushing her dog food bowl around. Not sure if this helps but I certaitnly wasn't aware of the behavior benefits of a Kong, just thought it was a neat toy for my 1 year old.

I read this in WDJ an it paid off big time.

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/

Sometimes dogs like to play and that includes there food and water beding and so forth. Many of my dog's wouldn't even stay in the nice dog house I had. Some would burrow underneath and even had several that liked laying on top. Animals can be quite fun to watch whether its a dog or cat or Deer or turkey.

my dog occasionally does the same thing. He pushes the bowl out of sight from us then proceeds to eat...pretty funny because he actaully pokes his head around the corner to see if anyone is watching.

It's an innate trait found in many animals. Self preservation against larger animals. Most dogs view humans as ALPHA dogs...leaders of the pack...so while we actually won't steal there food they still act on centuries of instinct.

Try putting the bowl in a heavy duty bowl holder..if the dog is eating his food don't bother. You are getting a glimpse of true animal behavior.

I think my dog does it without realizing what he is doing. I think he is looking for more food that may just happen to be in the dish that he missed. =) It is quite funny, i've found his dish underneath the fridge several times, underneath cabinets, and even as far as the living room a few times (and I feed him in my kitchen). Great question, I had a little chuckle thinking about my dog and his dish. =)

Dogs will do this because in nature they have to hide the food from other dogs and animals-it's a natural thing for them to do. My Great Dane will take a mouthful of food and bury it in blankets and under pillows from my other 3 dogs. She has also taken food from the florr bowls for the other 3 and added to her bowls which are elevated off the floor.

They want more food or they're searching for more food around the bowl

My dog does it because shes a big pig haha

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/nuwH0

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Animals do inexplicable things...insofar as us humans trying to understand them anyway.

It usually comes down to a basic instinct of the particular animal, a desire or urge to do "something" that to us makes no sense whatsoever...

why it makes no sense? because it seemingly has NO PURPOSE.

Humans need purpose, animals do NOT.

We have a term for it..."Animal Behavior".

a dog pushes it's food dish around.

a dog barking at nothing.

a cat kneading a chair or blanket...or your thighs.

here's one...

why does a dog sometimes eat it's own feces?

We can usually explain strange behavior away in human terms, and maybe it even makes sense (to us), but for the most part they are just instinctual characteristics of a particular member of the animal kingdom and we accept it for just that, for simply...what it is.

BTW...the scientific term for trying to understand animal behavior is " Ethology"...

although the term specifically is the scientific study of animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a "natural environment", where we here are targeting behavior in an animal's domestic environment...but instincts, wherever they occur however, remain the same to the particular animal family.