We have a year old beardie , we have been working to overcome her tendancy to "guard" her foods since she was about 7months old. She seemed to be improving , hadnt growled for weeks until the last week or so when she has started grumping again at our 2 teenage children when they come into the kitchen to eat. We did go away on holiday and leave her at home with my parents (and the kids) for a week, they said she was fine and never grumped at all but I think they perhaps spoiled her a bit with tit bits
We are also having trouble in getting her to eat(always have done, not just since the holiday) , she does not seem to like her food very much and will pick at it. But recently if one of the children comes in while it is out she will go straight over and eat it!
Any ideas?

Do you leave her food down?  What is ehr weight like, can you feel ehr ribs easily ans feel a definate waist?

Bothg your problems could be reduced by not leaving her fod down, lift it up after 10 minutes whether she has eaten it or not.

If she doesn't eat then she gets nothing until next mealtime (next day).

This will make her concentrate and eat up, and also reduce th3e chance of her guarding her uneaten food.

When we first started working on reducing her "guarding" we did not leave her food down at all, but she was eating puppy food then and tended to eat it up straight away. She doesn t seem to be be too thin but never ever eats her food up straight away she seems to either not like it very much (in spite of trying various options) or she will wander in and out and have a couple of mouthfuls here and there. If we do lift it straight up she does nt seem to be bothered but then gets grumpy when we eat

Persevere with taking food up after tne minutes.

A lot of dogs will guard food left down, rather than eat it, they are saving it for when they REALLY need it, not knowing that they will never (hopefully) be in that sort of situation. Food is a valuable resource and some dogs if given the chance, will guard it rather than eat.

If she still isnt eating what she is given, when she is given it, after two weeks of putting down a SMALL amount of food, adn taking it up again after ten minutes, twice a day, (makign sure she has NO other foods at all - put her out of the room if she grumps at you for your food), then id take her to see a vet. Dogs are not dumb, they will not starve themselves, but if she has learned to leave or even guard her food, and that she can get YOUR food, then she'll do that.

I would say, do satisify yourself that the food you have chosen to feed is both nutrious AND appealing, a lot of dog foods are not either and i dont blame dogs for not wanting to eat them.

Em

A few tablespoons of boiled water mixed into dry food releases a very appealing aroma and makes a kind of gravy - she may just wolf it down :)

A word of advice though - don't chop and change her food every time she goes off it as she'll be waiting for the next culinary delights you serve her at her every whim.  It seems harsh but take away any uneaten food after 10 minutes and don't give her anything until next meal time.  Don't give her tit-bits especially when you are eating - you can store them for later and use tiny bits as training treats throughout the day :)

As far as the "guarding" is concerned you could try keeping some of her food back and putting it into her bowl (a few pieces at a time) several times during every meal time.  This way she'll associate people being around her and the bowl as a good thing :)

thanks for the advice. I will try the boiled water on her dry food tonight to see if that wets her appetite!

I soak my beardies food with boiled then add a little cold when it has soak up and cooled down i leave a little water in which does make a kinda gravy as previous poster said never anything left in the dish ...gone in seconds!

Roni

i also soak my dogs food- but i was told not use boiling water as it affects the nutrients in the kibble, i use hot water that has cooled down in kettle.

I've been told the same thing about boiling water.

You have to boil for a minute or two to destroy vitamins and it's going to be off the boil long before it has soaked through the very surface, of the very surface pieces I think there will be plenty of vitamins left :)

I said "boiled water" not boiling water :p  I leave it to cool in the kettle for about 5-10 mins - the time it takes for me to take pup outside to do her morning business