Why Do Dogs Bury Bones?

Chewing on bones is one of dogs’ favorite pastimes.

If a bone is particularly treasured, a dog may even go so far as to bury it.

This behavior may seem strange to humans. So why do dogs invest so much energy in burying their prized possessions?

«The reason a dog buries something is to save it for latern», explains Teoti Anderson, a professional dog trainer and behavior consultant from Florida. «If you don’t know when you’ll find your next meal, it makes sense to hide leftovers.«

Burying bones is a form of «food caching«, i.e. storing food supplies to access at a later time. This behavior is common among many species of birds and mammals, including the ancestors of domestic dogs — grey wolves — from whom dogs inherited their burying instinct.

While wolves, known for their cunning hunting abilities, tend to remain at a carcass site long enough to fully consume their prey, they occasionally carry off the remains and bury them, as a study published in the journal Ethology shows. (Wolves and other canids are known as «scatter hoarders», meaning they store their food remains in caches distributed across larger areas.) The same study found that even wolf pups will relocate their cache to prevent it from being discovered by a sibling. So when dogs display this seemingly unusual behavior in your garden, you can rest assured — they are simply following their instinctive «inner wolf«.

Most dogs no longer need to store food because they have loving owners who feed them, but that doesn't mean their natural urge to save things for later is gone. Sometimes the instinct to bury things has nothing to do with storing food or protecting it from scavengers. According to dog behaviorist Cesar Millan, burying can be a dog's way of storing valued items so they can enjoy them again later. It can also be a way for bored dogs to play with their owner, or a method of stress relief for anxious dogs.

Some dog breeds, such as terriers, simply tend to dig, whether to bury food or to dig holes for no particular reason. «Dogs bred specifically to hunt animals or drive them into their burrows often enjoy burying toys, bones, and treats«, according to Anderson. «So it's not unusual for a dachshund to bury a bone under the sofa cushions. Anderson added that it should not be cause for concern if a dog has no hiding instinct.

Dogs that have a «cache» seem to visit their hiding spots whenever they feel like it. «Some dogs hide a treat and then ignore it for a week. Some dogs seem undecided and move their stash 20 times before settling on a spot. And other dogs bury a bone and forget about it entirely«, according to Anderson.

If a dog doesn't find a treasure, it's certainly not because they've forgotten it. Dogs have an incredibly keen sense of smell, 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than that of humans, as research published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science has shown.

What things besides bones do dogs like to bury? Anderson explained that there is a wide range. «I once knew a dog who buried stones. I have no idea why those stones were so special, but they were something special to him.«