Why should dogs not be left alone when they are eating?
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Is it just because they might choke or eat too much?
I ask because I've just got a dog, only had him two weeks and I'm not that experienced. I mean, I've been around dogs a bit and even had one as a teenager, but wasn't solely responsible for it.
My new charge does not seem to want to eat unless I'm there. He also seems very fussy about his food.
A bit about his history: he's 18 months old and I'm his 4th keeper (and I intend to be his last!). My daughter's friends have been playing a (probably well-meaning) pass-the-parcel with him and when one gets fed up with him, they pass him onto the next one. I met him at my daughter's and fell in love, but when I found out a few weeks later that the current keeper was wanting to get rid I did think very long and hard. Since having met the dog, I wanted one just like him. I've been thinking about a dog for some time, but never sure what kind or whether I was ready for the commitment. Well I decided I am ready now and this is the right dog for me. And he is, no doubt about it!
BUT he is a fussy eater, he doesn't like dried food, half the time he turns his nose up at the tinned food I gave him and he wouldn't eat unless I was in the room. I had decided to feed him in the same room as the piano (I'm not posh, by the way, just happen to have a piano left by a family member in a small back room!) and so I was rather bored just wathing him eat and I started to play.
Since then, he has not wanted to eat until I start to play. Twice a day! Well, I did need some practice, it's true!
But I'm not really much of a player and I don't really have all day and I would like him to just eat what he is given and not have to be played to every time! It has been so bad that today I had to throw almost a full bowl of food out in the garden which he wouldn't touch. I thought this was because it had been there since yesterday morning and so I threw it in the garden for the hedgehogs.
It was such a lovely evening that I sat in the garden and Shadow (the dog) came too. He spent most of his time happily snuffling around and chomping on the food I had just slung out for the hedgehogs - the 36-hour-old food that he had been turning his nose up at.
Can someone tell me what might be going on inside this dog's head? I doubt it's as simple as just hunger or he'd have eaten it before I threw it out. So what's he doing?
I ask because I've just got a dog, only had him two weeks and I'm not that experienced. I mean, I've been around dogs a bit and even had one as a teenager, but wasn't solely responsible for it.
My new charge does not seem to want to eat unless I'm there. He also seems very fussy about his food.
A bit about his history: he's 18 months old and I'm his 4th keeper (and I intend to be his last!). My daughter's friends have been playing a (probably well-meaning) pass-the-parcel with him and when one gets fed up with him, they pass him onto the next one. I met him at my daughter's and fell in love, but when I found out a few weeks later that the current keeper was wanting to get rid I did think very long and hard. Since having met the dog, I wanted one just like him. I've been thinking about a dog for some time, but never sure what kind or whether I was ready for the commitment. Well I decided I am ready now and this is the right dog for me. And he is, no doubt about it!
BUT he is a fussy eater, he doesn't like dried food, half the time he turns his nose up at the tinned food I gave him and he wouldn't eat unless I was in the room. I had decided to feed him in the same room as the piano (I'm not posh, by the way, just happen to have a piano left by a family member in a small back room!) and so I was rather bored just wathing him eat and I started to play.
Since then, he has not wanted to eat until I start to play. Twice a day! Well, I did need some practice, it's true!
But I'm not really much of a player and I don't really have all day and I would like him to just eat what he is given and not have to be played to every time! It has been so bad that today I had to throw almost a full bowl of food out in the garden which he wouldn't touch. I thought this was because it had been there since yesterday morning and so I threw it in the garden for the hedgehogs.
It was such a lovely evening that I sat in the garden and Shadow (the dog) came too. He spent most of his time happily snuffling around and chomping on the food I had just slung out for the hedgehogs - the 36-hour-old food that he had been turning his nose up at.
Can someone tell me what might be going on inside this dog's head? I doubt it's as simple as just hunger or he'd have eaten it before I threw it out. So what's he doing?
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Comments
You have only had him for two weeks so some of his behaviour might still be settling down. Food is a mega important resource for him and you don't know what rules/associations he has with the food. He may now associate you & piano with it being safe to eat. Or, if he hasn't had much attention, he may have learned that if he stops eating, you return. Dogs make simple - but sometimes bizarre to us - associations between things.
Throwing the food in the garden - well, you just made dinner fun and interesting!!:D:D:D He gets to fulfill two basic needs - eating and 'working'.
If spreading his food about isn't feasible every meal, you could try Kongs or puzzle feeders to make it more interesting.
My dogs have a routine for dinner. The little ones go to their crates and Murphy does a Sit-wait until told to eat. Perhaps you could teach a cue?
Many dogs often find Raw feeding much more satisfying (raw meat, offal, bones and a few pulped veggies). It is a chore to begin with but one you get into the swing, no harder than any other dog food.
Choking is a very tiny risk, less with wet foods, higher with bones (Murphy nearly choked on a chicken wing once - had to give his a good slap!) - if not in the same room, I'd like to be within earshot.
Hope some of that helped:)
Progress made during our regular walks (on the behaviour/obedience front) suggest that he is starting to trust me more since he teases me when I call him to come and he runs around trying to get me to catch him as a game, but he does come fairly quickly now if I insist kindly. I'm hoping I'll find some way to get him to eat the dried food. Perhaps some chicken stock or some such.
I'm sure we'll be fine as the bottom line is that he has to fall in with my plans. I accept that the poor mite had no choice but to come and live with me, so it is my absolutely duty to care for him which is what I want anyway, but he has to live on my terms. I don't anticipate too much trouble since he is now sitting on command and even doing a fair job of heeling when we cross the road (even when not on a tight lead) after only two weeks of regular walks, twice a day, with me madly issuing commands and the neighbours probably thinking it's not the dog that's barking!
It's hard work, but it's wonderful the way he responds. He's a very lovely little dog and I think his former keepers just didn't want the commitment. I myself am a 50-year-old unmarried "commitmentphobe", but even I felt ready for this level of commitment now
Safety & security are the most important things in the world for dogs (&most animals) so unless they are feeling safe, it is unlikely that they will be able to perform most other behaviours normally. This could be why he doesn't like to eat when you're not there & he has come to associate the piano playing with your presence & that this is when you're relaxed too. The same with you just sitting & chilling in the garden with him, plus it's fun to forage & scavenge around the garden:). Just putting dull food in a bowl in the kitchen, with perhaps other people milling round, is probably not the most natural or enjoyable way to eat!
If you are set on getting him to eat a mainly dry food diet, then you may need to make it more exciting & tasty by putting some of your leftovers with the dry food, e.g. veggies, some gravy/stock (but watch the salt content!), leftover bits of meat etc. Also you could try chatting up your local butcher for some raw bones for him ~ anything like pork, chicken, lamb or beef bones are fine, as long as they are raw. Chicken wings are very cheap ~ probably about £1.20 for 12 in the supermarket but a butcher would be able to give you a greater variety & if you promise to pick them up regularly, some butchers will give them to you for free or only a small charge.
Sounds like you're making good progress with him though so well done to you:).