My 7 month old GR is not eating well, she is not under the weather by any means she recently had a check up at the vets and he was very happy with her, she weighed in at 27 kilos.  She has never been a dustbin like my other GR's with food and likes to pick out one biscuit at a time.  She has never been a fast eater but lately the last 2-3 weeks she is spitting out her biscuits and then just laying down beside her bowl, she will pop into the garden for a wee break come back in have another nibble and then leave it altogether.  We have tried mixing other food (dried) with it but no luck.  We have tried the "pick up after 15 mins" and we offer the biscuits to her for breakfast, which she should be having anyway, but again she's not overly interested.  I'm worried that as a growing girl she's not getting enough food and it will start taking it's toll soon!  Should I persist with the picking up of food?  Also if she is actually eating it after 15 mins albeit very slowly do I still pick up the bowl?  Could this be the start of a dominance, pack leader thing?  She is guardng the bowl if anyone trys to go near it, however if one of the others actually starts eating it she doesn't bother about it?  We have recently lost our old dog who was very much in charge of the household.  I think I just need to be firm with her but any ideas?
Jan

>Could this be the start of a dominance, pack leader thing?

No. Please put this outdated theory out of your mind. Dogs simply don't plan like that.

There are several possibilities; maybe she doesn't need as much food as you think (I have a dog who'll decide not to bother with his meals every so often. He's come to no harm); maybe it's the wrong food for her, and perhaps gives her indigestion. Most likely is that she's unsettled following the loss of your old dog; one of mine lost 2 kilos in two months after her mother (definitely 'top dog') died and has only now, 7 months later, regained the weight.

Could she be coming into season?

Thanks for the replies, sorry Jeangenie, what I was trying to say was could she be seeing herself as the Alpha dog now that Abby has gone?  But as you said there could be any amount of reasons.  I'm hoping she's not coming into season yet, but could be possible both she and the other youngster here were trying to mount each other today, I so hope not as the National GR Club show is soon and I would really like to take her as she has done so well as a puppy.  I have reduced her feed a little from today so may see a difference in a little while if she starts eating up.  Do you think I should start picking her bowl up after 15 minutes even if she is still eating?

Thanks again
Jan

I found  when my Springer was a puppy that she had (and still has for that matter, being now two years old) a pattern of times when she wolfed her food down and times where she did exactly as your GR does.  When she has a time where she refuses to eat, I cut her food right back.   And at times where she loves her food I feed her plenty plenty.  Another thing that helped me was to go raw, just seems to taste better and more appealing to a dog than kibble.   I don't feel I can give you advise on the 15 min thing, as I am not sure myself about that.

If she is still eating then leave her bowl down, nothing wrong with eating slowly, the picking the bowl up is for when they are not eating, so that they eat while it is down next time.