Category: Animal House
hi, i have a guide dog. i have noticed he sometimes does not like to eat his food. i notice it most in the morning. but, when i add peanut butter, or some crumbled treat he eats it. i have tried most things. i have even tied him up and placed the bowl in front of him. after a long while i just give up.
in your experiences, has this happened to some of you? also, lastnight, i left half a sub on my puter desk. he was free. yeppers, he ate it. grabbed it from the desk and fucked it up. i addressed his actions with a stern voice, and put him on time out till this morning. any thoughts? thanks. gizzy
I don't have any worthwhile advice, but I had a dog that used to do the same things. I think it's a combination of spoiled, AND stubborn!
I've never had this problem with my guide dog, but... I think its a combination of spoiled and stubborn too. Spoiled bc he knows that if he doesn't eat his food, you will put peanut butter or a treat in it. Stubborn bc he doesn't like eating his dog food and goes for human food when you leave it out. So its obvious the reason for him not eating his dog food isn't bc he is sick or anything. Try switching to a different dog food. Try putting a bit of water in his food too. Talk to your guide dog school about this.
Ok, firstly, your time out is far, far too long. A dog's time out should never be for longer than about fifteen minutes or so. After that, they can't remember what they're being punnished for.
Now the bit you're not gonna like, but it's true. A dog will not let itself die of starvation. If you stop putting the peanut butter in his dinner, he might not eat it for a day or two, but after that, he'll certainly eat. Put the food down in the morning and leave it down for 10 minutes. Chances are he won't eat it. If this is the case, pick it up and don't offer him it again until that evening. Again, he might not eat it. Same thing the next morning and I can guarantee you that if he doesn't eat it then, he will on the second evening. In the meantime, don't let him have access to human food at all, or any sort for that matter. Water, of course, but no food.
We had to break a similar habit with my friend's dog, and we had this sorted in three days. Not only did Bo not eat her food, but she'd leave hers and go eat other peoples'. She wouldn't eat hers all in one go. It would stay down all day, a risk if you're feeding wet food. The picking it up after ten minutes rule is a really good one if you want a dog with a good eating pattern.
You need to question how he got to this stage in the first place, mind you. Someone had to put the peanut butter on there the first time, and probably the second and the third. If that was you, you need to examine how committed you are to changing your habits as well as his before you begin.
If you need any more advice, just let me know.
FM
good advice fm. agreed there. a dog is trainable, and if you don't train this shit out of them they're gonna rule your life, you are pack leader, and advice like fm's will work if you are committed to it, and don't give in to whimpering, whyning, and other doggie enducements to your soft heart, for now, until the problem is fixed, you ain't got one. and the dog needs to realise this.
how did the training go?. i had the same thing going on with mine for a while, he would never go steal my food, though, but he would not eat his dog food. I also changed brand, and that helped too.