Hi Everyone! I'm brand new to to this site, and I've only been a dog mommy for 7 months. He's a 9 month old pomapoo who is VERY finicky!! He only eats from my hand, won't go near his bowl! My husband says this is not good, that I should let him go hungry til he eats from the bowl. What do you guys think? I would realy like some experienced advice.
Hand feeding? Help!
- Thread starter RobinA
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R
Your puppy has trained you to feed him from your hand.
Sorry, but your husband is pretty much right.
If this were my puppy, I would get him a nice crate, and at next meal time, he would be put in the crate with his food in his bowl. In 10 minutes, he would be removed from it, and his bowl, full or empty, would be put away. If there is food left in the bowl, it should be cut in half and offered at the next meal time. Each meal, if any food is left after 10 minutes, cut it in half, and offer it at the next meal.
The dog will learn to eat when food is presented if you will address it in this manner. If not, he will just continue to train you.
CAUTION: be careful, if your puppy is under 5 lbs in size, as puppies this small can have issues with blood sugar levels if they don't eat.
Sorry, but your husband is pretty much right.
If this were my puppy, I would get him a nice crate, and at next meal time, he would be put in the crate with his food in his bowl. In 10 minutes, he would be removed from it, and his bowl, full or empty, would be put away. If there is food left in the bowl, it should be cut in half and offered at the next meal time. Each meal, if any food is left after 10 minutes, cut it in half, and offer it at the next meal.
The dog will learn to eat when food is presented if you will address it in this manner. If not, he will just continue to train you.
CAUTION: be careful, if your puppy is under 5 lbs in size, as puppies this small can have issues with blood sugar levels if they don't eat.
Thank you, Redyre. So, he definitely won't starve himself to death, right? LOL! He's 9 lbs, so it sould be alright. I'll take your advice starting tomorow morning. Why does he never seem to want to eat? He's very lively! Maybe it's the breed(s) pom and poo. My only experience with dogs is with my Mom's dachsunds, and they eat ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!
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we had problems with our old husky eating from her bowl, or eating dog food in general. julie didn't give her any treats or human food at all until she started eating a whole meal when she put the bowl down. so just don't give him any treats as well or else he'll just eat treats. we went through this with the sheltie we just got. He was used to having his bowl out all day and julie doesn't like to do that she wants to pick it up so I would leave it out for half an hour and whatever he didn't eat I would pick up and he would have to wait until the next feeding. it took him about two days and now he's eating his food within fifteen to twenty minutes. i really am getting good at posting at this site now and it's only been a couple days since julie has allowed me to come on here maybe i should get my own account.
I can't tell you how much this has helped! We were getting no where, but when we invited his "cousin", another pomapoo, over, she kept eating from his bowl. It drove him crazy because I haven't hand-fed him, thanks to you guys. Well, he couldn't take it watching her eat, and he started eating from the bowl, too!!! A THOUSAND THANKS!!!