I remember hearing that some dogs, bred for high levels of obedience (I want to say Dobermans?), if trained to sit and wait to be released before they eat, are so “hard core” that they will actually starve themselves to death in front of a full bowl of food, rather than eat without permission.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that intentionally starving an animal, or training it to starve itself, is monstrous. But has this behavior ever been documented? Are dogs capable of such acts of self-denial??
Ah, perhaps I hang around Labs too much, but I doubt it. If I remember correctly Dobes might be more likely, highly trainable, but light eaters. Some of them wouldn’t touch the food even if not told to leave it alone.
I think I’ve seen dogs neurotic enough to make that seem true. I kind of doubt any healthy animal would starve itself to death for the pleasure of another. Please, no mythbuster’s experiments on this one.
I’d heard this myth too, and I’ve always taken it on face value, so yeah, I have no citation/proof/dog mind reading capability.
I did want to add that it wasn’t an obedience type of thing, but a hunting dog behavior. So strongly ingrained is the “don’t eat what you retrieve” behavior, that left alone in the woods, they might catch and kill an animal, but without a human to portion it out for them, would simply starve, surrounded by mallard and bunny corpses. I still don’t know how true that is, it seems I’d heard that poorly trained/poorly bred hunting dogs do damage game, so maybe under the best conditions, the myth eventually fails. But I never thought it extended to bags of kibble, or even an poorly guarded steak.
I think there would be some breaking point at which the dog would eat.
I’ve read about this for guard dogs: only their owner could tell them to eat, so they wouldn’t be poisioned by somebody else. The dog in the story was hungry when released, but still alive.
No. No dog is so highly trained so as to starve itself to death. The drive to eat when hungry is too strong.
I don’t need this urban legend making it any harder for me to convince 140 pound Hoover the Lab’s owner that her pup won’t die if it misses a meal.
If the Lab owner is much for science, you could direct her to How To Tell if Your Dog is at a Healthy Weight – Long Live Your Dog Unfortunately when it comes to feeding dogs, logic and science are at the bottom of the pack for many people.
While I certainly don’t think he would have *starved *himself, we did have a pug who spent an undoubtedly frustrating night once.
Butch was the most well-trained dog I’ve ever had. (For which I can’t take credit - my mom trained him.) Such a sweetheart. He was allowed on the furniture, but only when invited. You’d tap the couch cushion and say, “Ok,” and he’d jump up and snuggle. Likewise, he was occasionally spoiled with “People Food” treats, but only at our discretion. You could toss him a treat and say, “Ok,” and he’d take it, but never stole anything.
One night my folks had a party, and someone left a plate full of cheese and sausage on the couch. Then we all went to bed, unaware.
The next morning we woke to find Butch still sitting sadly in front of the couch, with his chin resting on the edge of the cushion, the full plate of food an inch from his shnozzle.
That Good Dog got cheese and sausage for breakfast. 
But wolves, and dogs, live in hierarchial societies. They are trained and used to waiting till the higher-ranking animals have eaten, until they themselves eat. (This can apply not only to the Alpha male, but to let the females/ mothers and pups eat first, if they need the meat). And since a good dog is never the Alpha in a human household, waiting to be allowed to eat on a command from the human Alpha doesn’t sound that extraordinary to me.
Yes, but the question is would a dog starve itself to death. Waiting a while for a command is not the same as actually waiting so long as to cause death. I doubt even the lowest wolf in a pack would starve itself before trying to get some food from the higher members.