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Three of the four dogs we've had have done that. Karma is the only one who will just look at the food and look at us and stomp her feet. But Karma is the most dominant dog we've ever had. I'd like to put her out of the room when we eat, but the other half of this marriage won't have it.
The look away is a calming signal intended to appease the human. Yes, I am looking (and drooling) over your food, but I know it is yours and I am being good. Also, many if not all of the people when they turn to look at the dog are looking directly at the dog which also is a factor; dogs, even our own, don't like to be looked at directly in the eyes, and some of these humans are giving a hard stare which is a sign of aggression. Also, if you watch carefully, although some of the dogs are clearly salivating, some of the dogs very obviously also lick their lips as they turn away= another calming signal.
Calming signals are behaviors that dogs offer as appeasement gestures, or to calm another dog, but also the calming signal calms the dog doing the behavior.
My dogs will both look me in the eyes while waiting to eat, I look them in the eyes all the time while eating, but I can leave the plate with food and they will not move to get it until AFTER I give the OK. Tuck is always fed first, then Taffy, but that's training and learned behavior, not some instinctual dominance/subordinate relationship.
I suspect this says more about the owner and the dog's personalities and conditioning behavior, than some generic behavior that applies to all dogs. Basically, we in the US have deloped a bit of an interspecies culture with our dogs (and to a far lesser extent with cats), and our dogs behave in ways that are culturally acceptable IMO. Even within the human family, we see cultural variations about eye contact (positive in some cultures, almost taboo in others) and a myriad of other socially normal behaviors in one culture that are completely unacceptable in another culture.
We have been selectively breeding dogs for so long now (10,000+ years), I'm not sure I buy the Alpha/wolf/instict thing as an full explanation any more than I would buy that we're instictually hostage to Neanderthal behavior and instincts. Some influences? Sure, probably! Instictive pattern or instictive behavior that is so deeply ingrained in the psychy and can't be altered/adjusted? Probably not.
Last edited by Tuck's Dad; 11-17-2014 at 06:49 PM..
I would not read too much into it. I have two Malamutes. One does exactly that same thing when I'm eating. She stares at the food, but when I look at her, she either turns her head or her eyes away from looking at the food. My other Mal, when it notices I'm looking at him, will look up at me, stare me in the eyes, then look back at the plate, then back into my eyes.
Just different dogs with different personalities. Why do people try to over think everything a dog does, when we have no idea?
Dogs are so funny sometimes. One of mine will try to send me "subliminal messages" (as I like to think, anyway) when I'm eating. He'll look at my food, then look at me, then look at my food, then back at me as if to say, "You KNOW you want to give me a bite of that!"
if your dog looks away, that's a good thing, he accepts you as the boss and that it's your food he is coveting. If the dog continues to stare you down while you eat and are looking at him, he is trying to intimidate you into giving him some of it.
Usually works too!
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