Why does my dog rub his face on his bowl before he eats

by Mary
(Tifton, Georgia)

Bella has this strange ritual every time before she will eat. She will smell her food then rub her face on the bowl or the floor in front of her food....then stick her nose back to her food and start the ritual all over again.

She does this for several minutes before she will eat her food.

Sometimes she will push her bowl with all the other ritual.

Why does she do this?

Hi Mary
Well, dogs can display all sorts of odd behaviors at times, and it's not always possible to tell exactly why they do these things.

Just like people, dogs can develop ocd (obsessive compulsive disorder) habits. Things such as obsessive licking (of people or themselves), tail chasing and so on, fall under this category.

Other unusual behaviors can include digging in their food bowl, tipping the bowl over, carrying around rocks etc. are all pretty typical.

Some of them, such as the digging in the bowl, seem to have roots in wild wolf behavior, others are unexplainable.

As long as a habit isn't causing your dog (or you!) too much stress or injuring the dog in any way, I wouldn't worry too much about it. She may work it out of her system, or it may be a 'quirk' that you (and she) just learn to live with.

If it gets to the point where this is concerning you a lot, or it is causing her distress or injury (rubbing a sore spot on her nose etc.), then I would recommend that you talk to your vet about it.

Best of luck!

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Why does my dog rub his face on his bowl before he eats

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My Chihuahua Does This NEW
by: Anonymous

When i want my dog to eat because she is being picky and hasnt eaten all day i put her on her towel and she will wipe her nose on her towel ( i have a towel under her food folded in half 2x so she can make a mess and is more comfy for her to sit/stand on) It looks like she is telling me NO, i dont want it and pushing her food away w her nose but her nose doesnt hit the bowl ( almost though ) i just tell her " poem, stop " in a normal voice ( her name is poem) and she stops. i think its her way of being fussy kind of like children saying " i dont want to eat my veggies "

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Body language NEW
by: Dave

My jack Russell has been sick,throwing up one whole day and not eating ,he rubs his nose on the floor in front of the food an pushes his bowl away.I really do think he is trying to tell me he is hungry , but can't eat because he is sick.

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not alone, ocd puppy
by: chihuahua mama

my chihuahua whenever she gets a treat, she gets so excited she touches it with her nose then rubs her head on the rug or blanket.Its just a funny little quark nothing wrong with her. I saw a vet about it and all he did was find it amusing when i pulled out a treat to show him.

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My old cocker rubs face outside of bowl
by: Chris

Hi everyone,
So glad to know I am not alone in observing this odd behavior. I have a 17 yr old cocker and she has done this for the last several years. I make sure her nose is not being rubbed raw and that she eventually does eat. I have changed her food many times when she refuses to eat and this ritual is performed on all the food. She is now doing it to her water bowl! I'm trying to not develop OCD.

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Take the food out of the bowl
by: Josh

Put it right on the floor and see if your dog will act differently

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don't ignore this message from your dog
by: Anonymous

I think people here are talking about two different things. One is the dog rubbing on the food itself before eating it. Another is the dog rubbing on the floor or pushing at the floor in front of the bowl with its nose and then not eating. My dog was doing this second one, and refusing to eat the Purina One we had recently started giving her again. She used to be fine on it but when we opened the new bag we could see they changed the formula. Long story short, my vet told me not to give in and get her new food, and that the purina one was a good food, but the dog got very seriously ill and I totally now conclude it was the purina one and the dog was telling me as clearly as she could-- "this food is making me sick." I picked up some Wellness on a friend's recommendation and my dog ate it immediately with no hesitation and no pushing at the ground.... she is now back to her old self... but show her the purina and she starts pushing on the ground again like she is trying to push the bowl away and can't stand it. Your dog is trying to tell you something if she is pushing at the ground with her nose and won't eat the food in her bowl... she's hungry but that food is making her sick!

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My dog started doing this after she went blind
by: Vicki

I have a 10 y/o mini schnauzer Tinkerbell (Tink for short). She developed Diabetes and Pancreatitis about 6 months ago and recently her cataracts became so bad that she is now blind. Shortly after the blindness, she started rubbing her nose in front of her food bowl on the carpet before she eats. She does this for a couple minutes every time we feed her which is now 3 times per day! It can be very annoying but we try to be as patient as possible bc find the blindness to be so sad. I wish she didn't do this but there's nothing we can do that will stop this. We praise her the moment she acts like she's about to eat but until she completes this ritual, she won't eat. So, with no real readon behind it, I guess patience is the key!!

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My dog does the same thing!
by: Anonymous

My Havanese has full access to her food bowl at all times, so she can eat whenever she feels like it and can't really go hungry (unless by her own choice). I first noticed this habit when I'd put her in her kennel and give her a treat. She'd start sliding her nose toward the treat, like she was drawing a line with her nose right to the treat. I figured it was a weird quirk because she hated being in her kennel. Now that I've stopped kenneling her, I've noticed that she also will do it from time to time with her kibble. She'll grab a kibble and bring it over to the carpet and rub her nose maybe 10 times around the kibble before deciding to eat it (or leave it for later). She only eats one kind of food and it's the only food she's ever known (aside from an occasional treat), so I don't think it's being "picky." If anyone figures out the answer, please post it! I've done a Google search on this and there are a lot of dogs out there who do this - and no one really seems to know why!

For the person who mentioned their dog "rubs" on their food - I think that might be a marking trait, as if to say "It's mine, it has my scent on it." At least that's what my vet told me when I first got my dog... She also does this on a daily basis as her way of playing with her toys (oddly enough, she's the only animal in the house, so not sure why she needs to claim them)

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their trying to bury the bone/food
by: Anonymous

My new jack russell does the same thing when i give her food. The first time she did this weird nose dragging was when she was on my down comforter and I gave her a rawhide. It was actually pretty funny but also really strange. I sent my sister a video of her doing it and she said it is probably related to her desire to bury bones. This definitely made sense to me since it was almost like she was dragging her nose on the comforter around the bone in a motion just like how she might use her nose to move dirt onto the bone....

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My 2 Toy Poodle praise their food too.
by: Anonymous

so when they get hungry the go running towards there bowl. grabs a lil tiny kibel of dog food and he puts it down n rub his nose forward n back forward and back .

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my dog has been sick an now rubs nose on carpet
by: Anonymous

I was researching info on my dog when I came across this page. Maybe some of you can help. My dog was recently sick..he vomited off and on for two days, wouldn't eat, was mopey, an slept all day. He seems better now..has some of his spunk back but still won't eat his dry food which he loved before and when he sniffs it he rubs his nose on carpet back an forth! I gave him boiled chicken he will eat that. I tried wet food an he only ate a little. I thought maybe he doesn't like his food so I bought a new type of food but to no avail he won't eat it either. At a loss as what to do now, just don't understand why he is rubbing his nose on carpet? Its almost like he is saying ewwww this doesn't smell good lol! Please help!

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My golden was rubbing his nose raw!
by: Anonymous

My 13 month old (guessing as he was a stray) golden retriever has started doing this! When we got him from the shelter he came with a scrape on his nose. We didn't think much of it. 3 months later he just started the nose rubbing or rooting in front of his bow. He rubbed his nose raw in a matter of minutes. Today I added chicken breast to his bowl, mixed it with the kibble with my hands and he ate his breakfast without rubbing! YAY. I have to believe he didn't like the food and the chicken kicked it up a notch. Crossing my fingers that dinner will go as smoothly :)

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My black lab does it too
by: Jill

Im having trouble believing the OCD thing. Im thinking more of a medical condition. I had a beagle terrier for 14 years and she did this ritual every time she ate in strange places then it evetually was all the time. I got really concerned because if you watch them it looks as though they want to eat so bad but something in thier head wont let them and they continue to rub the bowl from every side then give up eating all together. Sometimes she would go so long without eating she would vomit. I now have a two year old lab that we have had since he was 10 weeks old. He has developed this ritual over the past week and it is really bad. We have changed his food, moved it and even added condiments. It just looks like something is keeping him from eating and you can see he gets really frustrated. And none of my family or friends dogs do this. Very strange!

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My Lhaso Apso does this too!
by: Sue

My Lhaso Apso does the same thing but she has also started whinning too. She started out being a normal acting puppy. Then just a couple nights ago she started (I call rooting at her bowl) then she will eat a little of her food. Also when she starts to lie down in bed she roots in the bed. She also has starts whinning a lot at bedtime. Most of the time she only eats a small portion of her food. Sometimes she will return to her bowl and finish her food. The whinning and excessive behavior had me really worried until I read all of the other comments. It still worries me, but I'm not going to stress so much about it now. I will keep a close eye on her and if it gets really bad I will definitely take her to our Vet.
Thanks for all your comments and the website for all the information. It has been very helpful to me.

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My dog STOPPED her nose rubbing ritual
by: Suzanne

I've been trying new dog foods and different combonations of canned and dry. I finally found a combo my dog loves and she hasn't rubbed her nose on the floor for 5 months now.

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Dogfood 2
by: Kerby

My wirefox terrier does the same thing as Jen's dog. He takes a piece of food out of our other dogs bowl, rubs his face on it, then finally eats it. It's do strange yet so funny. I just wish I knew why he does this.

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Dogfood 2
by: Kerby

My wirefox terrier does the same thing as Jen's dog. He takes a piece of food out of our other dogs bowl then rubs his face and neck on it then eats it. It's so strange yet so funny. I wish I really knew why he did that.

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Same thing here
by: Anonymous

My Keeshond Shepherd mix almost always rubs her nose on the floor next to her food dish before eating. Sometimes she pats her nose on top of the food too. She's 10 and has probably done this for the last 6-8 years. Wish I knew what she was doing.

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My dog does this too!
by: Anonymous

My dog is an American Bulldog she started doing this about 2 years ago. I thought it was OCD because its soo weird but after seeing that so many dogs have the same OCD I am begining to think it might be something deeper.. At one point I thought maybe it was the metal bowl she didnt like so I switched her to porcelean but that didnt help either. Then I thought maybe she was trying to clean her nose. I still have no idea.. I have tried asking her.. but she just kind of gives me one of those I'm confused head tilts. Maybe its their way of telling us they don't like whats in the bowl? Can someone please ask that Dog Whisperer guy maybe he knows.

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wow
by: Anonymous

MY dog.... also a Yorkie poo.... does the exact same thing... then walks away from the food..... oddly if I microwave his food for 15 seconds, he'll then eat it!

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dogfood
by: jen

My dog will take one piece of food out of her bowl, carry it to her couch (yea, she is that spoiled- she got the old couch all to herself :]) and rub her face and head all over the piece before she eats it. She does this over and over and over back and forth all day.

so weird.

jen
waycross,Ga/brooklyn, Ny

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Dog rubbing it's nose before it eats...
by: Suzanne

My dog does that too but it's not all the time. She's a Cairn Terrier/Dachshund and seems to do it only when she's not too happy with whats in her bowl. She'll sniff her food and then rub her nose on the floor then go back and sniff her food and keep doing this over and over. But when my dog does this she ends up walking away from her bowl. I've put some of the food, portions at a time, on a flat plate and then she'll eat it and eventually finish what I've left in her bowl. She did this for the first time 3 months ago and then never did it again until the last two days and only at breakfast time - not her evening meal. I'm completely purplexed!!!

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LOL!
by: Anonymous

Funny that you mention this, my dog, a Yorkie-poo does the SAME thing. I figured she had OCD.. I guess we all have our ticks here and there :)

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