Wimpering puppy

[Bella's Dad]

I have a 4 month old Jack Russell / Paterdale cross. When i give her a treat she will run around the house, treat in mouth, wimpering very loudly whilst trying to find somewhere to hide it.This can go on for up to 10 minutes until she finds a suitable place. Once hidden, she will be fine until she goes back to find it and the whole process starts again. Is this normal?

 

[JoanneF]

Not really but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a problem unless she is developing resource guarding behaviour. Is she afraid someone will take it from her?

 

[Bella's Dad]

No. That's the thing. If she brings it to me she will willingly give it to me. She also does it with my socks.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Do you know what kind of environment she came from? Were there lots of other puppies? Children? It could be a learned behaviour.

 

[Bella's Dad]

She came from a farm, last of 6 puppies. I got her at 8 weeks. No Children that I could see but there were 5 adult working dogs.

 

[JoanneF]

She may outgrow it. If you are concerned about her choking and don't want her to hide it, you could try keeping her in the same room as you, or on a lead or long line, or maybe break the treat into pieces and give her then one at a time. When I started my dog on chicken wings I was concerned about how he was going to eat it so I just held it at one end and let him eat from the other end.

 

[gypsysmum2]

It may be that she was unsupervised and, with lots of siblings and other dogs around, felt the need to hide her food/trophy?

I would just encourage her to share what she has by playing "swops" for a better treat than the one she already has. Don't confiscate the first treat, give it back to her once she has accepted you offer of a better treat. Same with the socks. Try to have an old pair and swop them for a fantastic treat and then give the old socks back to her. She needs to learn that you are no threat to her treats or trophy. If she steals something valuable then do the same but give her a substitute to make up for her losing the original article.

 

[crazypetlady]

It does sound like she's worried about who will take her treat, how sweet! I hope she grows out of her worry and learns that she can relax and enjoy her treats

 

[cassandrawilliams]

It's okay coz As the days go by you will see something changes in her behavior

 

[JoanneF]

It's okay coz As the days go by you will see something changes in her behavior

Hopefully yes. However if this were resource guarding behaviour, dogs don't necessarily just outgrow it. I hope you are right, but it is a little risky to oversimplify things by suggesting behaviours will necessarily stop as a dog matures. Many behaviours become learned habits, which is great if it is a desirable behaviour. Less great if it is an unwanted behaviour.