Terrier has to have blanket to push into food bowl before shell eat.

Question
My 9 year old jack russel/rat terrier mix has had this habit most of her life.  She'll push and pull this raggedy thin cover/blanket over the food bowl and sometimes over the water bowl.  She'll position the blanket for about 5 or 6 minutes, usually inside the food bowl, then take out some bits of food and drop it on the blanket and eat it, then start again with the positioning of the blanket.  Is this normal behavior for a terrier? She is afraid of people, runs and hides when someone comes in the house, but is getting better about it.  Is she just neurotic?

Answer
Susan -

The good news and bad news are the same thing - She's just neurotic.

I can't tell you how many dogs I have seen develop strange behaviors around eating... from trying to "bury" the food in their dish, to taking it one piece at a time into the other room to eat, and one of my gordon setters used to flip her dish because she wanted to lay down to eat....

Just write it off as a strange, but adorable quirk.

The fearful part is at least partly genetic. Rat terriers are often quite nervous and shy.

-Beth