Find What You Are Looking For Here
FYI: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!
Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Rewey's Eating Habits

by Jennifer
(Wisconsin)

We have a wonderful tricolor Aussie. Her eating habits are bizarre to say the least. She takes a few bites of food out of her bowl and takes it in the adjoining living room to eat. She lays down in the living room and eats her bounty. She repeats the process over and over. I thought maybe it was an Aussie thing. Anyone else seen this?

Comments for Rewey's Eating Habits

Click here to add your own comments

Living with an aussie
by: Anonymous

Our 8 month old Aussie Riley has the most bizarre eating habits of all. When it comes down to normal dry food he eats a little bit at a time or in the evening when he knows that chances of him getting anything more exciting are zero.

However, when he's given canned food the whole situation changes. He takes chunks out of his food bowl and hides it around the house. Presumably for safe keeping when hard times come. We have found canned food in his bed, sofa, wedged between the cushions and so on.

In the garden, when we give him meat or bones, he immediately proceeds to bury it in a hole he passionately digs out.

I am pretty sure he thinks of us as vultures who will steal it from him given the opportunity.

Sissy sarah
by: Anonymous

Our Aussie is 3 years old and she only eats laying down. She wants her food bowl in her house at all times. We call it breakfast in bed. ☺️ She is our first Aussie and we are definitely big fans!! She has her own personality.

Rewey
by: Anonymous

Rewey is almost 11 now. This is still her preferred eating style. We added an English mastiff puppy to our pack a few weeks ago and it is put a little more urgency on her eating. Lol

6 month old Aussie
by: Judith M

R 6 month old Aussie chews his food, gets a bite & brings it into the adjoining room to eat it! They say intelligent dogs chew their food! He will not go near the lake across the str!! Maybe bc he is a puppy, Idk!? He is so loveable! <3

My two eat in competition
by: Linda Wells

I have a 12 year old Aussie and a 2 year old mini Aussie. The older dog is Picasso, a male and the other is Monet, a female. Both of them will eat anything. When I feed them, they gobble their food down, each trying to beat the other. It is usually a tie. Then each checks the other's bowl just to make sure nothing is left.

Another word, these are my fifth and sixth Aussies. I wouldn't have any other breed. Once you have an Aussie, you are spoiled for life. This is my first mini and personality wise, she has exactly the same desirable traits as the standard. The only difference is size but not the size of her heart. I DO recommend minis.

Prissy Sissy's Eating habits
by: Michelle Stogner

Yes, my Sissy does the same thing, either a few morsals at a time to the living room or she will lay down to eat it out of her bowl. I thought she was just being prissy.

funny eating habits
by: Anonymous

Our three year old mini does this most of the time...picks up a few pieces of food, takes them to the living room to eat them...our one year old and 8 month old minis do not do the same thing...they just try and eat each others food...musical bowls for them. I don't mind Gillie bringing her food in the living room to eat but she is very protective of those pieces and there is hell to pay if one of the other dogs gets too close!

My 3
by: Arlene Moore

All three of my Aussies do that, not all the time but they all eat from the same bowl so occasionally when more then one wants to eat at the same time they grab a mouthful and put it somewhere else to eat it LOL

same strange eating habits
by: Anonymous

I have 2 aussies. The 12 year old tri-color merle takes her food out of the bowl, drops it a few feet away and eats it off of the floor. This happens whether her bowl is full or close to empty.

Our 9 year old just began doing the same thing a few months ago, but only occasionally.

Wierd! :0)

Quirky!
by: Anonymous

Tesla, my Aussie doesn't do this, but I have a 14 year old shih-tzu who has done it since she was 5 weeks old, sometimes cramming her mouth so full she can't close her jaw (now there's a comical picture). Unless I stand guard, Tesla will gladly rob her bowl while she is away and sneak off again when he hears her stop chewing, confirming her paranoia about the food bowl. Agreed; the behavior definitely extends feeding time!

Eating habits
by: Tana

I have a deaf tri colored mini aussie and he does the same thing and my mom was wondering why so I guess it is a breed trait lol.

Eating habits
by: Amber

My mini Aussie has a funny behavior as well, although he does not lay down to eat, he has this other way about eating that he has done since he was a pup, he is now 2 yrs. old. He will not eat out of his dog bowl, he prefers to have it on a flat plate, that looks similar to the way we eat from, or he will only touch his food if you turn it into a game, you make a little trail, piece by piece, all the way leading to his bowl, then he will stand and wait for you to do it again. This has proven to me that this dog really thinks about things and is highly intelligent, and that he craves and needs attention and just wants to be an active member of the family. I love my dog.
Now if we can just fix the other( more serious ) behavior problems he has. The eating part is just too funny!

Aussie Eating Habits
by: Anonymous

We have 2 Aussies. Shelby, our female likes to bring bites of food to the living room and eat and return to the bowl. Tate stays at his bowl to eat. Both are picky eaters. We have literally tried dozens of kinds of food. None really make them excited.

Eating habits
by: Anonymous

My Aussie eats laying down (eating her kibble one at a time) unless you give her something different (can food or even her Heartworm pill) then she stands up.

Eating habits
by: Anonymous

Yes! We have an 11 year old Pom that does the same thing. But our two Aussies do not, they clean their bowls right away. We just think she wants to eat in the room we are in at the time. She has even carried the food upstairs if nobody is down stairs.

Strange eating habits
by: Becky

Ever since our 12 year old female was 7 or 8 months old she has done this, She would lay down, literally cross her front paws, and wait for her big brother to finish. Then she would do the same thing yours does- piece by piece. When we lost her brother and got 2 more aussie pups she continued.. Now 1 of the pups is doing it too.. Meals take a while at our house.

I have had a lot of dogs and the aussies are the only ones to do it--Who knows? But it is hilarious!

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Reader's Aussies.

Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com icon

Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Have Dog Training Questions?

Check out these introductory dog training videos...

I want my dog to stop being aggressive.

I want some help training my new puppy.

I want my dog to stop barking at everything.

I want my dog to walk nicely and calmly on the leash.

I want my dog to listen and come every time I call!