Tony helped Molly Meldrum with his very famous dog Ziggy.


Ziggy is known as the face of Hey Hey It’s Saturday and is a very lovable character, with a very peculiar eating disorder. When Molly puts Ziggy’s food down, there is a determined effort to cover the bowl with blankets and toys. I have seen variations on this theme, but never this particular behaviour. Fortunately, when you know how dogs think it is easy to decipher and explain.


Burying food is a natural response, done to store it for another time. Another dog would do this by digging a hole and putting a bone in it.


This behaviour gives the dog an opportunity go eat in front of the owner later to show who is the leader when food is the issue. A “fussy eater” will often only eat when the owner is in the room; after all, there is no point in doing it when there is nobody to see it. I advised Molly to pick up the bowl if Ziggy buried it and left it alone. There is also a great little trick to do just before putting a dogs food down, which we call Gesture Eating. Here’s what you do:


1. Prepare the dog’s food, as well as something small for you (it doesn’t matter what).
2. Make sure the dog is in the room so it can see what you are going to do.
3. Eat the bit of food you have for you.
4. Immediately put the dog’s food down and walk away.


This shows the dog that you eat first, then it can have what is left once the coast is clear. Ziggy gesture ate in front of us, so I know it is something that will be understood, at least by Ziggy.


Ziggy is used to getting a lot of attention, and rushed to meet us as we arrived. It is important to initially pay no attention to a dog when you arrive, to show it that it doesn’t have to worry about you. Molly found this idea hard at first, but when I explained that he could practice this when coming back from the shops (and not just from one of his exotic trips), he seemed happier that he could do that. I always say that practice can be done in small bite-size chunks, so both the dog and owner get used to doing it.

Cheers, Tony