Ever wonder why your dog doesn’t eat? Not the physical reasons when her stomach starts talking in squeaks and squelches and squirty noises, but the psychological “I’m choosing not to eat right now” reasons. I can give you some insight into my pathology and perhaps you can apply it to your pup.
When I was a puppy, A-Dog and Shoes-on-the-Floor took my training very seriously. They read oodles of books about what to teach me and which doggy behaviors to hone. One of these behaviors was the danger of food aggression.
With a stubborn breed like mine, food aggression can develop when the humans are careless about feeding time. Training was pretty straight-forward: food in bowl, make me wait, I drool, they say OK, I eat. As with any training, we did this over and over again until there was no training anymore, it just was.
I’m not sure if that plays into my psychosis of leaving a full bowl of food just sitting there, but here’s my criteria for when it’s okay to eat:
::A-Dog and/or Shoes have to be home
::They need to be seated
::No chaos ensuing
(kids running outside, packing for outings, screaming/yelling)
::A calm, quiet atmosphere with only the sounds of two human hearts and the hum of the TV
Not so much to ask for, right? It does get a bit tough when I go to “Scout School,” better known as the kennel. I go twice a year for about a week each and I always slim down significantly. I do eat, but it’s with a sad and bitter edge, because I think that this time they will forget to come get me. You can pity my poor dog brain for that thought, but it is what all canines think when you leave us.
It’s quiet now, so I think I’ll belly up before someone starts yelling for a band-aid.
That happens a lot around here…
terrific. scout, you’re so talented. troy, sit. read.
aha! I’ll have to try some of the things you’ve listed. Sophie seems sometimes picky. We were told to take her food away after 20 minutes but found she would eat at all. So, we’ve left her food out. Sometimes she eats and sometimes she doesn’t. A lot of the time, we’ve moved into another room or upstairs. That may be the issue.
Thanks, Scout. You are wise.
Around here, you’ve gotta eat or somebody else is going to get it! That’s just the law of the jungle!
Bunny