- You may not believe it, but your dog can have a preference to what he wants to eat from. The animal may just have been having nightmares about the bowl coming to life and running away with his food. So hence he chooses to secure some before the bowl runs away.
2. Doesn't Like Where He is Being Fed
- The dog may not appreciate the area being fed and may grab up a few foods in his mouth and find that nice spot where he feels comfortable devouring his food.
3. Just Natural ancestral Instincts
- In the wild after wolves would hunt and take down meat. The lesser wolf would drag away his portion of the meat to avoid getting into fights with other wolves who may end up taking it away. It is a form of feeding security. This behavior could have passed down genetically.
4. Bowl Too Hard To Eat From
- Ensure that any dog bowl you buy for your dog is large enough for your dog mouth to comfortable maneuver its food inside it.
5. Dog Bowl Too Noisy
- Metal bowls and metal on dog collars will cling and clang and create not so pleasant music to your dog's ear. To avoid this clinging and clanging, the dog moves his food elsewhere to a quieter atmosphere.
6. Dog is a Stingy Eater
- The dog maybe a stingy eater and chooses to take parcels of food away so it may seem as though his meal is extra plenty and last longer.
7. Scared of Choking
- If the dog is a gulper and probably have gulped down a few dry dog food and ends up nearly choking. That experience may be fresh in his mind each time he eats food from that bowl. Hence he chooses to take his food away in small amounts to avoid another experience.
Every dog behavior modification will take a little time and everything goes in stages. If you want to stop this you will have to go through the processes one step a time and use the process of elimination. You can start by for example, changing his feeding area, then observe the happening. Replace metal with thick good plastic, get a new bowl with good eating dimensions etc. Just be patient with your dog and implement the strategies one step at a time for best results.