Why Do Dogs Hide Their Treats? Evolutionary Reasons Behind Caching

While the act of burying bones is well-documented, you may have found yourself asking why your dog buries treats and toys in your home. Dogs hide treats because of a natural behavior called caching, which they inherited from their wolf ancestors. Caching food enabled wolves to store leftovers for later and demarcate their territory. For pet dogs, hiding treats allows them to fulfill this natural behavior while potentially feeling more secure about their food supply.

In this article, we'll take a deep dive into the interesting evolutionary roots of this strange behavior and explain what hiding treats means for our furry friends. By looking at research conducted by animal behaviorists and evolutionary biologists, you'll learn why dogs are so naturally driven to hide their food. We'll also discuss whether or not this behavior has been impacted by human intervention and offer advice for pet parents who are dealing with hidden treats all over their house.

Breed-Specific Hiding Tendencies

In some cases, certain dog breeds are more likely to dig and hide their toys and treats. For example, Animals Matter, Inc. notes that terriers and dachshunds were selectively bred as "working dogs" to dig and catch prey that lived in the ground. As a result, their digging and hiding behaviors are a result of their genetics and the instincts that have been passed down through generations. Meanwhile, other breeds like border collies, which were bred for herding, may be less likely to exhibit excessive hiding behaviors because their genetics were shaped for different working purposes.

That said, breed is not the only factor that determines whether a dog will have a tendency to hide their toys and treats. In fact, Better Pet notes that any dog can develop a tendency to hide their toys and treats due to environmental factors like past trauma, stress, or a lack of security in their home. For example, dogs that were rescued from situations where they didn't have enough resources may be more likely to hide their toys and treats. A dog's individual experiences can also exacerbate or minimize their breed-specific tendencies when it comes to hiding their toys and treats.

In other words, while some dogs are more likely to hide their toys and treats because of their breed, every dog is an individual. By learning about your dog's breed-specific tendencies and their individual history, you can better understand the reasons behind their hiding behaviors, which will help you learn how to manage these behaviors in a way that's healthy and positive for your dog's breed.

Psychological Reasons for Hiding Treats

Dogs may hide treats as a way to deal with stress or anxiety. The American Kennel Club suggests that dogs that were rescued and had their resources taken away in the past may be more likely to develop hoarding tendencies. The Pets Best article also suggests that hiding treats can be a form of resource guarding and that dogs do it because they're afraid that they won't have enough.

On the other hand, Green Matters points out that boredom and a lack of mental stimulation can lead to dogs hiding treats. Meanwhile, Blue Ridge Naturals explains that dogs may hide their treats if they're overfed or if their meals aren't consistent, and that the behavior is a throwback to their wild ancestors' instincts to store food.

Knowing the psychological and emotional reasons that dogs hide their treats can help pet parents deal with the root causes in a positive way. This can include providing the right stimulation and dealing with anxiety and resource guarding issues. In turn, this can help pet parents better deal with this natural dog behavior.

How to Deal With and Redirect Hiding Behavior

Pet parents can work to curb and redirect hiding behavior in dogs through positive reinforcement training. As the ASPCA explains, training dogs to respond to commands like 'drop it' and 'leave it' can help them learn to give up items they're guarding. This will involve a process of classical conditioning, where the dog is trained to associate a person's approach or the removal of a resource with the reward of a high-value treat.

In addition, the use of hiding boxes or puzzle toys can help satisfy a dog's natural instinct to hide and store items, according to The Wildest. Meanwhile, adjusting a dog's feeding routine and the amount of food they're given can help reduce the need to hide extra food, and increasing a dog's mental and physical activity can help redirect their energy from hiding.

Finally, as the Humane Society points out, it's essential to address any underlying issues, such as anxiety or resource guarding, that could be contributing to a dog's hiding behavior. With positive training and the right environmental adjustments, pet parents can help their dogs learn to use their natural hiding instincts in a positive way.

Why Dogs Bury Toys and Bones

The behavior of burying toys and bones is a holdover from dogs' wild ancestors. According to Vetstreet, wild canids like wolves would bury food and other items to save them for later. The ability to remember where they had buried things and to dig them up later was an important skill for survival when food was scarce and unpredictable.

Although dogs today are fed regularly, the AKC says that the instinct to bury bones and other items remains. Dogs may consider toys and bones valuable and want to bury them to protect them from others and ensure they have them when they need them, according to TryFi.

This ancestral behavior of caching allows dogs to fulfill their natural desire to store food and other items for future use, even if they don't need to do so for survival. Recognizing the evolutionary roots of this behavior can help dog owners find ways to work with and redirect their dog's burying behavior in positive ways, like through enrichment.

Using Enrichment to Tap Into Hiding Behaviors

Creating a space for dogs to dig, such as a sandbox or a digging pit, can help fulfill dogs' natural instinct to bury things, according to Best Bully Sticks. Puzzle toys and food-dispensing toys can also help dogs fulfill their natural foraging and caching instincts, according to Pooch & Mutt.

Hiding treats around the home or yard can allow dogs to satisfy their hunting and caching instincts, which can be a game for them, according to Wag!. Training games like 'find it' or 'go hide' can also help dogs fulfill their natural instincts and make hiding a positive activity.

In addition, regularly rotating toys and treats can help prevent dogs from getting bored and encourage their natural caching instincts in a healthy way. By using enrichment to meet dogs' instincts, pet parents can help them fulfill their hiding behaviors in a way that meets their mental needs and prevents them from hiding items excessively or inappropriately.

Conclusion: Understanding and Managing Dogs' Natural Caching Instincts

The behavior of hiding treats and burying possessions is a natural instinct that goes back to the wild ancestors of today's dogs. According to Dogster, wolves would bury excess food to save for leaner times and prevent scavengers from stealing it - a crucial adaptation for survival when food was scarce and unpredictable.

Although today's domesticated dogs don't have to worry about finding enough to eat, the American Kennel Club says that this instinctual caching behavior is a way for dogs to satisfy their natural urge to store resources for later consumption. This behavior may be more pronounced in terriers and dachshunds, who were bred to dig and hunt underground.

On the other hand, Pets Best points out that a dog's tendency to hide things can also be influenced by environmental factors, including past experiences, stress, and boredom. In these cases, positive reinforcement training and environmental enrichment can help dogs feel more secure and reduce their need to hide things.

Understanding the evolutionary basis of caching can help dog owners find ways to manage the behavior constructively rather than trying to eliminate it. This can be done by providing dogs with opportunities to express their natural instincts in ways that are safe and satisfying, such as by giving them places to hide things, puzzle toys, and scavenger hunts.