Corgi Hilariously Refuses to Drink Water if He's Interrupted by Humans

My dog is a bit weird when it comes to meal times. I'm not sure why this happens, but it's been going on for a long time: Every time we pour food in her bowl, she refuses to eat it until whoever served her the meal walks away. It's like she wants complete and total privacy, and if one of the humans in the house walks by and gets too close, she'll stop what she's doing and wait (and look very annoyed with us until we move on). It's almost as if she's had a bad experience with a human stealing her food while eating before, but since we adopted her at eight weeks old, I doubt that's the reason.

I thought my dog was the only one with this weird habit, but apparently, she's not alone! And according to the comments on this TikTok video, a dog not wanting to eat or drink when they're being watched is actually more comon than I ever would have thought.

On Wednesday, August 8, @hudsonthefluffyco shared this video of her Corgi pup , Hudson, drinking water to show that when he's interrupted, he absolutely will not continue drinking. This is a real thing — and honestly, I'm relieved to see that my dog isn't the only one.

"Does anyone else freeze if your dog is near their water bowl because if you interrupt they won't take a drink?" Hudson's mom wrote on the video.

Sure enough, we can see him stop drinking when he realizes she's standing there, and he only resumes when he feels the coast is clear. Leave him alone, Mom. He's busy!

Commenters chimed in to let her know that their dogs have the same habit. One person wrote, "We all literally pause everything we’re doing and just go back to normal life once they're done drinking."

Why Do Dogs Stop Eating or Drinking When They're Interrupted?

Unfortunately, there's no official answer to this question from any experts, but if you're concerned about the habit or feel that it's stemming from another issue, your vet is the best person to ask.

However, plenty of people have the opposite problem — that their dogs won't drink or eat unless they are in the room — and there's actually an explanation for that.

“Dogs find that meals are more fun with others. By nature, dogs are social creatures and the company can motivate them to eat," dog trainer Shelby Semel told The Dodo.

If you don't mind hanging out while your dog eats, there's a good chance you're just helping them have a happier meal. But if they won't drink or eat until you're gone... you'd better just fill those bowls and scram.