harvwald
Member
My 4-month old puppy has a very strange way of eating. She's especially bad in the morning. Here is what she does: I put out her food, call her and make a fuss about breakfast time, she seems excited and comes near, then goes away and sits on a rug. I sit on a chair and try to not make contact with her. She will just sit and sometimes start chewing on the rug or furniture. (This takes place in the kitchen, with doors to the other rooms closed.) She continues to ignore her food. I usually end up saying, "how are you doing? Let's check." And then I'll add, "Oh, good job." Sometimes that encourages her to come over and start eating. Other times I'll rattle the food a bit, or bring her a handful. After doing this, she eventually starts to eat. At halfway point, she'll usually come to me and want to show me. I go to the bowl with her and praise her, and she continues to eat. Sometimes I empty the remainder onto her placemat, because she prefers eating on that. (The breeder said this may be the case -- I suspect this is how the puppies ate at her house.) She'll finish the rest and come to show me again, and then I praise her a lot and she wags her tail and is very happy. So all in all, she finishes her food. But what an ordeal! She seems to like the food ok, as when I put it in her Kong bone, she always eats all of it. I don't know if I should be ruthless in ignoring her, and removing the food in 15 minutes, like some advice says. (It takes her between 20 and 30 minutes to eat. Oddly, if I start to remove it, she is more interested in it.) Or should I just go with the flow and hope she'll outgrow this. (Her dinnertime is a little like this, but she's usually hungrier and eats within 15 minutes; sometimes I wonder if in the morning, she'd rather play than eat? I feed her after she goes out and before we play.) I don't want to encourage an eating disorder! Your suggestions appreciated.