rubbing nose towards food
 

Jackieo eats from a plate in her cage. The floor ot the cage is lined with a blanket.
When she is hungry, she goes in her cage and waits to be fed. If we ignore this, she will let out a short bark to get our attention.
(she's not so dumb)
When we feed her, she always rubs her nose in the blanket rubbing towards the plate of food. The rubbing motion is like she is trying to push something to the plate.

My daughter has several yorkies and they just eat when fed, no rubbing the nose.

Any ideas why she would always rub her nose before eating.

Thanks

This is very common, if she figures out how to bury the food with the blanket she may do that before uncovering later to eat. My girls don't do this all the time but when they are bred they all do this. After they have puppies they'll put a blanket in the water bowl too. Looks like their nose would get sore after all the rubbing:rolleyes:

Tootsy does this when I give her food she dislikes or does not particularly like!! I think it is something dogs did in the wild to cover 'food' with with dirt? They push the dirt over the food with their noses after, perhaps, digging a hole to put it in? Tootsy only does it when I give her things she doesn't want to eat. Eventually, if she doesn't dislike it too much, she will reluctantly eat it. Otherwise it can rot as far as she is concerned!! Jackieo, I think, is trying to cover the food with her blanket (as there is no dirt) to show her dislike of the food. I may be wrong, of course. Have you changed her food or put a new supplement on it? If you have not had her very long, do you feed her the same food as the breeder/previous owner gave her? She may want this food and not your 'new' food. If this isn't the case, then mention the behavior to your vet next time you see him, as he may be able to explain it. I don't know exactly how long Jackieo has been doing this, but if not for too long, then she will probably give it up after a while when she gets used to the food.

Luv
Yvonne xxx

oops, I was busy replying to your post when C C Kent gave you the correct answer!! Sorry.

Luv
Yvonne xx

rubbing nose towards food and picky
 

Thanks to all for your replies.

She has been doing this for a long time for most meals. I believe the dislike of the food and like the covering with dirt idea. Although, she will clean her plate most times once she starts eating. Sometimes she will do the nose rubbing and then not eat???

She was about 5 months old when we got her. We went thru over a dozen kinds of dry and canned food
For a short while, she ate Cesars, not liking most flavors. ""Picky"" Against all advice, we now feed her baked chicken drumstick and thighs, baked in our convection oven just for her. Or beef steak or roast from our table, (chicken and beef cut in very small pieces) I think we spoiled her just a little, her last name is LSD, "Little Spoiled Dog." About once a week she gets Cesars, quite frequently she will not eat it, even with grated cheese on it.

I tries many dried dog foods from the most expensive at PetSmart to some of the cheaper. Tried melting cheese on many of the dried foods or adding milk or water, and she ignored all of them. If I give her leftover meat (stored in fridge, then warmed) from the day before, many times she will not eat it, even with cheese on it. She appears healthy, not fat at all and not skinny.

Jackio

ah~picky eaters. i understand your pain. my baby milu does the nose rubbing thing as well, and is a VERY picky eater. i didn't have much luck with dry kibbles, and did the same thing tried feeding her cesar and put cheese on her food, force feed, bribery...etc.. finally, i tried Nature's variety raw food, and she loves it. but she still hates eating the same food all the time and gets tired of eating the same thing, so i went to buy different types of raw meat for her today. (i mean, i wouldn't want to eat the same thing everyday either)

Good luck! :)