I think he buried his dinner

[Momily]

I decided to "dabble" in raw feeding so I took a chicken wing, put it in a bowl with some broccoli ('cause Lyle loves broccoli) and put it outside (because if you give him anything big enough to pick up he brings it in the living room to eat in front of the TV like a human and I didn't want raw chicken on my carpet).

He looked at it funny, then picked it up and disappeared into the yard. 5 minutes later the bowl was empty and he was asking to come in.

I assume he buried it -- if he unburies it in a few days will it be edible? Safe? Am I going to get rats? What should I do?

[Sailor]

That's funny. Sorry ... I know it wasn't meant to be. But, dogs - you gotta love them.

I wouldn't worry about it. Unlike cats, dogs can actually handle slightly "ripe" meat, if you know what I mean. The bacteria aren't likely to harm them. If he buried it - he buried it well. I doubt you'll have rats.

I wouldn't worry about it for now. Just let it be and see what happens. He may just forget all about it.

[greenmagick]

My one dog does this with his marrow bones...he waits for them to get nice and ripe and then eats them

[SevenVeils]

They frequently do this with raw. I used to confine mine on our large deck so that they didn't have that option.

The only other thing, is that dogs can't digest vegetables or fruits that aren't pulverized first. You can still give it to them to eat if you want to, it won't hurt them, but you can't count it as food, you look at it as if it were a toy or a chewy bone.

I used to give my dog raw carrots all the time, and he would eat apples from under the tree, he loved both. But he wasn't deriving any nutrition from them.

[Ola_]

LOL That is too funny!

Now I'm glad I feed my dogs in their crates. Although Chaos wouldn't likely bury things, she thinks everything needs to be eaten ASAP. And if Mayhem didn't eat his she'd help him out too.

I might suggest to watch him next time to see what he's doing with it. Even though I've been feeding raw for over 4 years now I still think it's important to be within eyesight (or earshot if I'm making dinner) just in case something happens. Freak accidents and all that.

[mistymama]

Oh my, that is so funny! It's also why we feed in a crate - our dog likes to take his treats onto my beautiful new living room rug and chew them.

My Mom's lab buries some of his bones, usually the larger ones like from beef ribs. She had no idea he was doing it - and when we came over last time our dog kept finding them and digging them up. It was hilarious, I think he found about 8 of those things, and thought they were quite a good treat!

Next time I would contain him - he'll learn what to do with it very quickly.