Burying Bones?

[hallieworthington]

My 7 year old lab just made the trip from Georgia to Colorado to our new home. The trip was a little stressful, as I expected it would be, since she's already got some anxiety issues. Due to her excessive barking when left alone, we're working on leaving her in the crate for now when we go so she feels safe and secure. She's still a bit of a whiner in there, but we're trying to battle that by giving her a special treat every time she goes in: her favorite hollow marrow bone stuffed with doggie safe PB and Cheerios, veggies, treats, or whatever else we have. She also gets a regular bone and her favorite squeaky toy.

However, she's developed this new habit where she hides the hollow bone in her crate under the blankets. She won't chew on it or eat the PB, she just noses her blankets til it's covered. And it's always only that one bone, never the regular rawhide bone or the squeaky toy.

Any ideas what this behavior might be and if it's just a new, goofy habit or something to be concerned about?

[SunDance]

I think of that as "saving it for later". My Honey used to hide whatever bone/antler I gave her and then go steal Hershey's to chew on. I had to keep them separated...and make sure Honey was the one indoors...or else Honey's bone would never be found again and Hersh would have none.

[smartrock]

My daughter's dog does that with toys and, when she wasn't on a diet that restricted stuffed bones, would hide them as well. She's an only dog, so there was no other dog that she was hiding it from, maybe she was hiding it from her "parents" or saving it for a famine. They just saw it as one of her endearing quirks. She was a shelter pup, so maybe some deprivation as a puppy triggered her natural instincts to hoard things. Maybe your recent move has triggered something similar. If she isn't given a stuffed bone, will she hide the other toys? I guess if she isn't chewing on that bone, you don't have to give it to her. What about putting the same filling in a Kong or other toy rather than a bone, would she hoard that also? Maybe it just makes her feel a bit more secure.