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Author
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Topic: Not Eating From Bowl
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MooseInForest
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posted December 28, 2003 06:17 PM
Hi everyone!
I have an eight month old pug puppy who all of a sudden refuses to eat her food from a bowl - ANY bowl. This has been going on since Thanksgiving. I have tried everything I can think of (moving the location of the bowl, using a different bowl, using a dish, making a trail of food to the bowl, leaving the food in the bowl out for days figuring sooner or later she will be hungry enough to go for it) all with no result. She will eat the food fine if I put it in a pile on the floor. She will eat it out of my hand (but not if my hand is over the bowl or trying to "lead" her to the bowl). She shies away from all dishes and bowls with her food in it. A bowl hasn't dropped on her or near her or anything, but she is terrified anyway.
I don't want to keep putting the food on the floor, because that is obviously very unsanitary, and it takes a LOOOOONNNGGG time to feed her by hand. Any help or suggestions you can give me will be appreciated! Feel free to e-mail me with any ideas! Thanks a bunch!
Posts: 7 | From: Schaumburg, IL | Registered: Dec 2003
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fullhouse9873
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posted December 28, 2003 07:23 PM
Was she abused when she was younger? Someone may have hit her with a food bowl. Will she eat off a plate?
Posts: 247 | From: Jefferson, WI | Registered: Sep 2003
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MooseInForest
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posted December 28, 2003 08:06 PM
Nope - she wasn't abused. . . .We have had her since she was eight weeks old and she is now eight months old. This has only been going on for the last month or so and nothing out of the way had happened then. So, I don't know
Posts: 7 | From: Schaumburg, IL | Registered: Dec 2003
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rick67
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posted December 28, 2003 09:38 PM
your dog is jerking you around ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
hand feeding her is only 'feeding' ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) the problem. Be persistent; put the food in her bowl and remove it after 20 minutes. After a few days of hunger pains, she'll give in and eat out of it.
Posts: 4 | From: Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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MooseInForest
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posted December 28, 2003 09:48 PM
I'm starting to realize that hand feeding her is not a good idea. That was a good pun by the way Rick. At the suggestion of another pug owner, I have put her food on a PAPER plate and topped it with a couple of her favorite treats and some Kong paste (which is also known as puggy heroin in our house!). Spirit HAS gone near the plate and taken a couple of the treats off of it, so I guess that is progress. Thanks to everyone who is answering! I really appreciate the useful suggestions! ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Posts: 7 | From: Schaumburg, IL | Registered: Dec 2003
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Judy
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posted December 29, 2003 07:20 PM
My puppy was a picky eater also and sort of didn't like her bowl either. My daughter comes to visit with her dog that is 11 months old and would eat my dogs food. I guess she than realized that she better eat her food or Zoe would. She is still a picky eater but she will eat from her bowl. We were using a treat ball that drops out treats and putting her food into it. Then she would eat her food. Now I really don't worry about her eating as much as when she was very young, and she seems to eat enough. Have you tried different brands of dog food? Maybe there is one that she would really like. Hope this was helpful. Also try a smalll amount of table food ground up and mixed with the food, just to get her over the fear of the bowl.
Posts: 10 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Nov 2003
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Amberlii
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posted February 03, 2004 11:30 AM
She will eat from that bowl when she is hungry!
Bow Wow Beds
Posts: 91 | From: KY | Registered: Feb 2004
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ruth27
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posted March 07, 2004 07:19 PM
Moose, what ever happened with your pug? were you able to convince him again to eat from the bowl? my shih tzu is experiencing exactly the same thing....he will only eat if the food is piled up on the floor. i tried buying a dish and he's getting better but still not like before. have you any suggestions on how you fixed this problem....hopefully this prob has been fixed for you. thanks!
Posts: 126 | From: Manila,Philippines | Registered: Jan 2004
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MooseInForest
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posted March 07, 2004 07:31 PM
Just wanted to give you all an update on Spirit. On the bad side, despite all different kinds of ways of enticing her to eat out of her bowl, (we even let the girl starve for three days by leaving the food in the bowl and waiting for her to "be hungry enough to go for it"), she still refused to eat from it. We have come upon a compromise now. We have a hand towel that we put her food on now. She eats from that fine. She even picks it up off the floor and brings it to us if we have forgotten to give her her dinner! Funnily enough, she doesn't drag it through the house at any other time. That was my main concern, when my husband suggested it. I could see her running gleefully through the house scattering dog food anywhere and everywhere. It never happened. So, I don't know who "won" (for lack of a better word) this battle of wills, but the dog is eating and NOT from the floor!
Posts: 7 | From: Schaumburg, IL | Registered: Dec 2003
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furson
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posted March 08, 2004 09:38 AM
I thought my fursons were the only ones that had that bad habit.
Actually, my boy ate from his bowl fine until we brought home our girl. She refused to eat out of the bowl. I too tried everything. She would just stand at the bowl & cry until I gave in & put it in the floor. I'm thinking her tags touching the bowl may scare her.
After feeding her from the floor, my boy took on the same bad habit.
Oh well, We live with it.
Posts: 3 | From: ******* | Registered: Mar 2004
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lou3
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posted March 08, 2004 11:06 AM
eating off the floor is fine for dogs anyway, it may be unsanitary for us but dogs stick their nose in much worse than a clean kitchen floor out on walks. My dogs eat from the floor in their kennels because i only have feed bowls in the house. Its never done any of them any harm.
Lou
Posts: 461 | From: uk | Registered: Nov 2003
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Em
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posted April 03, 2004 08:47 AM
My rat terrier was in an abusive family. They didn't like him because he was hyper....go figure..... they bought a yorkie and the yorkie would fight him whenever he tried to eat.The owners made them eat from the same bowl. He(Buster) would have to run to the bowl and grab a mouthful and run and hide with it. The owners thought it was funny. They were going to have Buster put to sleep when they came to have their precious yorkie groomed at the place my daughter worked at. He gave my daughter the pup with all the pedrigree papers. My daughter said to him as he was leaving "When you children( they were toddlers)get to hyper for you, do not bring them here...." Buster has been my buddy ever since.... and there are times that he will still take a mouthful of food and go hide even though he has his own bowl. Dogs never forget....
[ April 03, 2004, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: Em ]
Posts: 8 | From: Pensacola | Registered: Apr 2004
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ruth27
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posted April 04, 2004 05:50 AM
Em, i totally agree with you....dogs never forget! I once reprimanded Cocoa by picking him up by the back of his neck (im pretty sure theres a word for this area...just forgot lol) and he did give a short yelp. That was months ago and since then, no matter how I try to coax him to come near and makr him know my hands wont ever hurt him again, he's just so wary of my hands, to the point that it really hurts to see him so scared at times of me, just because of that once incident! I'm continiously pat him now and try to make him trust me more. Well, im know im progressing but your certainly right about dogs not forgetting.....grrrr! (oops....i think ive jumped to another topic on this....sorry ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Posts: 126 | From: Manila,Philippines | Registered: Jan 2004
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Em
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posted April 04, 2004 07:22 AM
Our Teacup Chiuahua(sp) was rescued from a family that kicked and starved her. She has been with us for 4 years and to this day, she hates tall men and cowers from most children. It was so bad that we even had to change her name. When we called her by her original name at the beginning, she would run to a corner and shake so hard she would vomit. No animal should ever have to go through that. Just thinking about the living conditions she was in makes me want to cry....They fed her Gravy Train of all things. Those pieces were as big as she is. I can imagine what she would do if I ever bought that stuff home
[ April 04, 2004, 07:24 AM: Message edited by: Em ]
Posts: 8 | From: Pensacola | Registered: Apr 2004
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ruth27
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posted April 04, 2004 07:41 PM
Em, thats so heartbreaking! My gosh, she must've had such a miserable life! How could people be so heartless! Congratulations for adopting her and giving her all the love she deserves!
Posts: 126 | From: Manila,Philippines | Registered: Jan 2004
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