Sandi refuses to eat on her own, prefers spoon-fed

tesslynn · May 18, 2015

chow hounds

I have never had any of my shelties refuse food. I am really puzzled by the spoonfeeding deal. Does her bowl bother her...glass or metal when washed won't retain odors, but a plastic bowl can...maybe the bowl smells bad to her? Healthy dogs eat is my take, if it is not physical, was their some psychological trauma that occurred with feeding? does her collar clink on the bowl as she eats and scares her...have you tried a paper plate? yikes, this is strange...

jomuir · May 18, 2015

While I am totally against spoon-feeding a dog, after seeing the pic you posted of Sandi, I could see myself spoon-feeding her, what an adorable girl! (But do follow the excellent advice you've gotten here :wink2:

)

tofu pup · May 18, 2015

Oh she is so CUTE! I love her happy little face. You can see that she is living the good life. :hugs

Mally's Mom · May 18, 2015

Wondering if your bag of dog food was new? Sometimes you can get a bad bag.....just a thought. That has happened to us before. (now, I always check the dates for expiration and see that the bag is in excellent condition)

Yes, I agree with the others, Sandi is a very beautiful girl.

Sandi'sMom · May 18, 2015

Justicemom said:
Tofupup is correct no healthy dog will starve itself to death. This is not true of a cat FYI. 2-4 days is perfectly fine as long as they are drinking.

Tofupup gave great advise. Celtic is the worse eater I have ever had. I used to feed him and he may or may not eat. We just keep at it and he eats great now. He knows eat now or never. Sheltie are really clever at working us

Hi, Justicemom. I know Tofu pup gave a good advice. It makes perfect sense. Funny that after I posted it Sandi came back from a dog park and ate all her breakfast. LOL So, in our case I guess we have to wait a bit before removing her food as she has her own schedule. Well, that's OK if she ate at 12 instead of 10:30.May be she was not hungry before and got hungry after the park.

MissieLynn · May 18, 2015

Sandi'sMom said:
Hi, Justicemom. I know Tofu pup gave a good advice. It makes perfect sense. Funny that after I posted it Sandi came back from a dog park and ate all her breakfast. LOL So, in our case I guess we have to wait a bit before removing her food as she has her own schedule. Well, that's OK if she ate at 12 instead of 10:30.May be she was not hungry before and got hungry after the park.

I have found that if I feed Emmy when she hasn't been active she's not usually interested in (her) food. But if I feed her after a walk or long frisbee session, she wolfs it right down.

Sandi'sMom · May 18, 2015

MissieLynn said:
I have found that if I feed Emmy when she hasn't been active she's not usually interested in (her) food. But if I feed her after a walk or long frisbee session, she wolfs it right down.

Yeah, sounds familiar. After the night when Sandi was inactive she is not really interested in food. After the park where she runs a lot often she eats her food but that is not always the case. She still preferred spoon-fed.

I am going to start a new pattern with her. But today I realized that I have to give her more than 30 minutes time after I gave her food. Chances are she WILL eat after the park. .

corbinam · May 18, 2015

Sandi'sMom said:
I am going to start a new pattern with her. But today I realized that I have to give her more than 30 minutes time after I gave her food. Chances are she WILL eat after the park. .

I think that giving her a shortened amount of time is an important part of the advice. If she know she has plenty of time to eat, she will take her time (or not eat at all since she can come and go as she pleases). I would take Megan's advice exactly and put the bowl down for 30 minutes. The longer the bowl sits the less likely she won't eat or will pick at it.

Sandi'sMom · May 18, 2015

corbinam said:
I think that giving her a shortened amount of time is an important part of the advice. If she know she has plenty of time to eat, she will take her time (or not eat at all since she can come and go as she pleases). I would take Megan's advice exactly and put the bowl down for 30 minutes. The longer the bowl sits the less likely she won't eat or will pick at it.

OK. We will. Thanks a lot, Ashley. Thanks a lot, everybody. :smile2:

Sandi'sMom · Jun 23, 2015

Sandi'sMom said:

OK. We will. Thanks a lot, Ashley. Thanks a lot, everybody.

Click to expand...

I thought I'd update you on Sandi's eating behavior and explain why Sandi didn't eat well and preferred spoon-fed.
It was not what we all thought. LOL

We have figured it out finally. And this is quite unusual reason for a dog not to eat. Turned out that Sandi's tags were knocking on the plates while she was eating and that was exactly the reason. We noticed how she strangely looked at her leash a few times and walked away from her plate. We finally got a "message". The noice from the tags knocking on the plate has been disturbing her and she refused to eat.
Ever since we took the leash with tags off she has been eating on her own, and finishing her meal completely. Just on rare occasion we help her 1 last spoon to finish meal. Problem solved!

Please keep this in mind if your dog has the same behavior as Sandi - preferred spoon-fed. Try this trick. You just never know. It might be the reason why your dog doesn't eat well. .