Across the great and diverse animal kingdom, survival of the fittest is a mentality that each animal must adapt. Most animal cannibalism comes from that mentality. However, do male dogs eat their puppies?
Male dogs do not eat their puppies. Dogs rarely eat other dogs, and if it were to come to that, desperation and extreme circumstances would have to be present. Male dogs do not have paternal instincts, but this lack of parental instincts does not cause cannabilism.
There are notably several species of animals that do eat their young, but dogs are often not one of them. To find out more about why it might happen, keep reading.
Animals that Dogs Eat
Dogs are omnivores, but the focus here will be limited to the portion of their diet which relies on meat. Because dogs cannot produce vitamin D, they must ingest that vital vitamin from the flesh of other animals. This may sound extremely gross to you, but it is necessary. It is partly due to this that leads dogs to eat the entirety of any animal that they catch, not just the meat.
Dogs will eat most animals. Generally, small birds, rodents, fish, or any other kind of small animal are perfect for a dog's diet. Larger prey can be eaten if it is hunted by a pack of dogs, but a dog will eat anything it can get its paws on. Pet dogs can often be difficult in this manner to train, but it usually isn't a problem.
If dogs will eat any animal, maybe the question you should ask is why don't dogs eat each other?
Why Don't Dogs Eat Each Other?
There are many animals throughout the great living kingdoms on the earth that do cannibalize their own. Alligators, crocodiles, cats, chickens, lions, and rabbits all eat other animals of the same breed and their young if given the chance. Chimpanzees are especially notable animals that cannibalize other chimpanzees, and it seems that they do it with some malice.
So, why don't dogs do this? Why isn't cannibalism more widespread among animals? Why don't dogs eat their young?
The answer is efficiency. It simply isn't efficient to try to attack and eat another dog. Chances are that there is smaller and easier prey to chase after with a lot less risk of getting injured nearby. If a dog were to try to eat another dog, it would become severely injured and be extremely tired after the fight is done if they survive it.
However, puppies are small and easy to catch, so why don't male dogs eat them? The simple answer is that it goes against what animals are trying to do in the first place. Every animal's main goal is to survive in order to pass on its genes. Biologically, it doesn't make sense to destroy and narrow your chance to fulfill your ultimate goal.
Also, female dogs are extremely protective of their puppies. If a male dog were to try and eat puppies with the mom nearby, they likely would not survive, as the female dog would attack them and not hold back in the slightest.
Male Dogs as Parents
Perhaps where this grotesque worry comes from is the unreliable relationship between puppies and their male parents.
Domesticated male dogs do not have paternal instincts and are somewhat uninterested in their pups. Most male dogs aren't even around for their birth and do not stick around to help raise the young dogs.
The ancestors of dogs, which are essentially wolves, possess strong paternal instincts and work hard to protect their young ones along with the mother, which is very opposite to what happens with modern dogs.
The dramatic change between caring fathers and disinterested ones most likely arose because of humans. Owners have essentially replaced the role of a father dog in the wild, protecting and providing for the pups better than a fatherly dog could.
From this, dogs have evolved to neglect the duties that they no longer need to carry out. It is simply more efficient for them to just move on after mating rather than stick around to take over when the humans aren't there to take care of the puppies.
If the puppies and their mother live in the same house as the father dog, you may want to keep the male dog away from them for a few weeks. The mother will be extremely protective of her puppies and may show aggression toward the male dog. However, after a few weeks, you can slowly introduce the father dog to the puppies.
When Dogs Do Eat Dogs
While the risk of a male dog eating its pups is low, cannibalism among dogs is not that uncommon.
Female dogs are much more likely to eat their young than male dogs (cronyism). Since the female sticks around longer than the father does, there are simply more chances that a female dog eats her young, whether intentionally or forced to by circumstances. This behavior is natural.
A number of reasons have been suggested to explain this cannibalism by mother dogs. Lack of experience, hunger, and population control are all reasons cronyism has been observed. Females will try to control the population for a variety of reasons that range from balancing the number of females to males or if environmental conditions are too harsh for the number of pups she has.
Another study showed that most dogs are willing to eat the flesh of another dog, though the circumstances hardly mimic a parent-child relationship. Dogs were simply offered the flesh of another dog, and most of the dogs were willing to at least partially partake of the flesh, while nearly half of them did it consistently.
Cannibalism does happen among male dogs, but it likely won't happen if the mother and puppies are well taken care of. Keep a watchful eye on the mother to ensure all puppies are eating well and that she isn't neglecting her puppies. If you are worried that your male dog will eat its puppies, keep it away from the puppies until they are at least a few weeks old.
Cindy is a prolific writer and online researcher who can't imagine life without dogs. There is scarcely a dog topic she has not researched or written about. Her love for dogs and helping dog parents is evident by the thousands of dogtemperament.com visitors who read her articles monthly. Most of all, each topic Cindy writes on helps forge a stronger bond and understanding between her and her happy Catahoula Leopard Dog Jossie.