Solo, who is now 6 months old is being a complete terror when it comes to food. He will eat anything he finds on the floor, or that you put down for him in the way of carrots, veg etc - but he will NOT eat dog food out of his bowl!!! He was on science plan complete, which he stopped eating even with added goodies in... so i thought maybe he didn't like it and changed that to Royal Canin which was good for about a day, but again he will not eat it out of his bowl.
I have tried everything - leaving it down for 10 mins and taking away, shutting him away to eat it, starving for a day... nothing works! Except - he will eat it out of my hand or from the floor - and will chuck down 2 handfulls of biscuits at one sitting on the floor - but if you were to put it into a bowl half way through he wont touch it! I am at my wits end as he is not exactly what you would call a portly puppy and i cant get the little bu**er to eat in any kind of routine... Any ideas? :D

And as a side track, has any one with a short coated breed noticed that their bitch loses hair underneath after she has been spade? Cleo is practically bald now!

Hudson is my 10 month old Malamute ..he has always been a faddy eater. What I do is exactly what you tried ...put the food down and then pick it up after 10 minutes. I have found that he will EVENTUALLY eat. At the moment , your Solo has got you well trained ;) He wont eat out of the bowl and you are so desperate to get him to eat that you will try anything :)

Let the little swine go hungry ...MAKE him wait...he will learn eventually that he will get nothing EXCEPT what is in his bowl , and then it will only be there for 2 or 3 meals a day

:)

Melody

Melody Hi sorry must ask you this Is it your breed that you have to be careful with
going under anaesthetic ?

Cleo I had a bull terrier like that would never eat out of a bowl is your bowls plastic
sometimes dogs don't seem to like the plastic for some reason .

Pat xx

Yea Pat ..I believe so ..there are far more experienced Mal owners on site who will probably be able to give more info , but I think I have read that about Mals

Melody

Apparently there is only one type of anesthetic that you should use on mals, I have it written down in my really useful handbook if you need to know what it is.

Hi Alex
Just reading through the posts and was wandering if Solo had stainless steel bowls,as my boy doesn't like drinking his water out of them,don't know if its the reflection or the sound,but he drinks out of plastic bowls now.Yet he eats out of a stainless bowl!!Strange creatures these staffies!!

HI Riggs,

No, he eats out of a plastic bowl now as will not out of stainless steel - though i need to get a bigger one (maybe ceramic) to fool him into thinking he isn't really eating that much - eating disorder dog!
Are you going to South Wales champ? I will be there with the monster - who should have bulked up by then as he is spending the next 3 weeks inthe country with me mam, where he eats lots and exercises constantly!!! I am off on holiday to Thailand tomorrow for three weeks - so i shan't be able to reply... but hope to see you on the 24th????

Hi Eog,

He is slightly better - i have just started adding raw egg to every other meal or so and that all gos immediately.. and he either eats the other meal (plain biccies) or goes hungry! He will normally eat them, but i think my problem is finding out the times he is actually hungry... seems to be at about 9 in morning and 9 at night....best not make it after midnight though, as i am sure he will turn into a gremlin (probably spike) not that far a cry from the fizgig he has been in the past!!!

Alex xx

You lucky thing you!!!!Have a great time.......Don't know if were doing wales yet going to east midlands on sunday,see how he gets on there..

I second what Melody said, if you don't give in he will eat out of his bowl eventually. Chewi, my 13 month Malamute tries to be faddy as well, but we just ignore him. He tried a hunger strike a few weeks ago, but gave in ungraciously when he realised he was starving himself of not only his dinner, but any and all treats that he normally had. Be tough and don't let the little horror win! He's old enough now to be able to go without for at least a day without harm, and possibly more.
One suggestion is that if he is alright playing with other dogs, you invite one over for a few hours, and, with the owners consent and presence, let Solo see the other eating HIS dinner out of HIS bowl! You may find that has the desired effect - it did with Chewi today - food gone in record time this evening. If necessary, next time, feed the two together and watch the food disappear :)
In respect of the spayed bitches losing their undercarriage fur my last two mal girls certainly weren't lacking there, but then they aren't what one would call short coated. I have known quite a few other spayed bitches in other breeds but can't recall any real shortage of hair on their tummies. Then again, it may not have registered with me. I am ready to stand corrected if this is the case, but surely it would happen in the heavy coated breeds as well?

HI Jean,

I have a second dog, the 3 year old spayed bitch and she polishes off her food in record time, and will have his too if i am not careful, and she has a propensity to put on weight very easily. Solo just stands by and watches her do it, not bothered in the slightest!

So, miss a meal then slap down just biscuits and if he doesn't eat then nothing until the next day - righty ho, think i can manage that! It does suprise me though, cos cleo was a fussy eater when young, bt would polish off her food if added something tasty too it - solo wont even eat anything out of his bowl, even if it has steak mince mixed with it (i was getting desperate! ;) ), he still looks at the bowl with open and frank disgust!!!

Maybe he doesn't like his bowl :D

Hi Alex,
poor you... just think of it as a 'stage' :rolleyes:
Best I can say is feed them back to back so they aren't paying attention to one another...when Cleo is finished, pull her out of the kitchen/wherever they eat to be with you...give Solo 5-6 minutes to start eating alone, and then pull all food up if he doesn't respond.

The reason why I say this is that sometimes the subordinate dog waits until the dominant one has his/her fill. That's normal and ok, imo.

I also am not a fan of fast eating/gulping dogs, so I don't place too much of a time limit to finish eating, just a steady dedication to the bowl. No wandering around or staring into space.
(I have serious stomach problems if I eat too fast and I have a tendency to wonder if that's one of the possible causes of bloat)

But if Solo learns that he has x amount of time to start eating AFTER Cleo is gone, then that might help relax him or get him into the 'mood' ;)
Don't worry if he goes several days without food. It will only whet his appetite.

Biscuits? No treats until he eats his dinner ;)


btw, if he refuses to eat anything -- not just biscuits or treats -- for a week, consider taking him in for an examination.

Oh well, it might have been worth a try if Solo was an only dog.
Reckon you'll just have to bite the bullet and play the waiting game. Stick to your guns and refuse to give him titbits if he doesn't eat. I'm sure it won't take too long before he realises he is on a hunger strike for nothing! ;)

Hi :)

I have had exactly the same probs with Zeus my 2 year old siberian husky. I was so desperate for him to eat I would do anything, I even took him to the vets at one stage as I was so worried. The vet told me to put his food down for 10 mins if he did not eat it he did not get another chance to eat till tea time. This did not work. I tried to let him eat with the other dogs, on his own different parts around the house outside the house, with gravy on top you name it I thought of it.

I had him neuterd a few weeks ago and I can not believe the change in him his appetite is no great but it is slowly getting better. Zeus is very very jelous of the cat Simba, as cruel as it sounds when he will not eat his food I shout "Simba, come on simba" and shake zeus's dish the cat will jump up the worktop and start eating the food. Zeus starts to go mad and will often start howling/singing at me till I give it him back. I put in on the floor and it goes in seconds. He is a fussy so and so, but a little reverse phycology often does the trick (ha ha) :) :) :) :)

And I 'third' it :-). Deerhounds are world class experts at training owners to feed them what they want, when they want it, and served as they prefer. Provided Solo is in good health you have two choices. You can keep telling yourself that no healthy dog will voluntarily refuse food to the point of harm, no matter how good an impression he does of fully intending to starve himself to death. Or you can allow yourself to be trained. If you do the first, you'll feel like a monster for a week or two. Choose the second and in ten years or so the dog will be picking its order from the Chinese takeaway menu and then refusing to eat it because you didn't serve it on the best china/hadn't the right brand of soy sauce/the black bean sauce was too strong .... or it decided to change it's mind and now wants roghan josh with naan bread . Believe me on this - I've been there and I don't have a local takeaway of any sort!!!