How Dogs Know Where They Buried Their Bones

Visual Markers

All canines, like wolves, foxes and domestic dogs bury food in order to have a larder to go back to in lean times. But mostly, it helps keep the food away from birds like crows or ravens, which hunt by sight. Canines tend to use a visual marker in order to pick a spot to bury the bone. This makes finding the burial spot easier. A visual marker can be anything conspicuous like a tree, rock or fence. Even using these markers, dogs can still sometimes forget where the bone is.

Scent Markers

When the dog is near a bone, the dog will sniff the ground thoroughly. Dogs have a sense of smell far greater than that of a person. A dog may be able to detect the scent of a bone, even after being buried underground for months. The most powerful nose in the dog world is in bloodhounds, which are thought to have a sense of smell one thousand times more powerful than a human being. But, according to PBS: Scientific American Frontiers, even a mongrel can detect 10 to 20 specific scent molecules in a billion.

If All Else Fails

If the dog has forgotten exactly where the bone is buried and can't pinpoint the bone by scent alone, the dog may just dig at random places hoping to discover some sort of prize. Some dogs, like terriers, will dig while hunting small rodents. Some dogs get into the habit of digging for forgotten bones and find digging to be a reward in and of itself.

References

• Why Do Dogs Bury Bones?
• Wolf Education Research Center: Cache Behavior
• PBS: Scientific American Frontiers: What the Dog Nose Knows

Resources

• Why Dogs Dig