# Weird feeding behavior: puppy reluctant to eat from dish . ..



## jessegirl

Hi All,

Rollie's been displaying a weird feeding behavior for several weeks now. We've noticed that he is reluctant to eat from his dish. This didn't start right away, but seems to have popped up a couple weeks after we got him. What's happening is that he often ignores his bowl, but if we put a small handful of kibble on the floor, he'll eat all of that. He'll ignore the bowl again and if we repeat the process, he'll eat the kibble on the floor again. I thought that maybe he prefers the kibble more spread out so we've tried using larger dishes, but it really doesn't make a difference. I've also tried hiding a few nuggets of a cheap (hence tasty) brand of kibble someone gave us as a "doggy-warming gift" in the bottom thinking he'll dig through the healthy stuff to find the tasty stuff and in the process eat a bunch of the healthy food. This works, but he still ends up leaving a good amount of kibble in his bowl (but he DOES eat all the unhealthy kibble). I'm going to try a new brand once he finishes this one, but I'm wondering if there could be a reason behind this behavior and if anyone has other ideas as to what might help. Also, has anyone else seen this? 

Could it be that he's just not hungry, but by putting the food on the floor it seems more enticing? I thought that maybe when he was at the breeder food got scattered with all the ravenous puppies going for it and he got used to eating the scattered bits, but he seemed to eat fine out of his dish when we first got him. Maybe I should just put his food in his bowl and if he doesn't eat it, take it away and repeat until he is hungry enough to eat (I know, a dog won't starve in the presence of food but it is hard to watch a growing pup skip a meal).

Thanks All!


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## Thumper

Welcome to the baffling world of Havanese behavior  ound:

Well, I will say that maybe you shouldn't get into the habit of teaching him to eat off of the floor, they do seem to develop rituals and habits and it sounds like taking the food off the plate and putting it on to the floor may be becoming a ritual before eating for him.

What type of plate are you using? If your dishes have a strong perfumy odor from the dishwasher, this may be why he is reluctant (the smell) try hand washing his plate/bowl in maybe a scent free soap and get it as neutral smelling as possible, 

But I would suggest stopping the floor habit, unless you want to be doing that every day for every meal ( I know it would drive me crazy, lol)

Kara


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## jessegirl

Thanks for the info, Thumper. It definitely isn't harsh chemical/perfume smells; we aren't using smelly stuff to wash his bowls. 

I agree with you; I don't want rituals to develop. I want him to eat when he's hungry and stop when he's full and I don't want to have to be flitting around watching what he's doing.


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## Lizzie'sMom

What size is your bowl? Maybe it is too narrow in diameter. You could try a wider shallow bowl or even a plate. I have some bread dipping plates that work well. It seems like he likes his food spread out. I also would not use plastic. Not sure about dogs, but cats can react to the plastic and get chin acne.


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## HavaneseSoon

How much are you feeding? Maybe the food is too hard? He may not be hungry? Maybe he likes company when he eats (Do not leave the room). 

He may be holding out for something better....are you feeding or giving him other tasty foods/snacks. 

Take up the food in 30 minutes. Do not get in the habit of hand feeding him. He will eat when he is hungry. 

Try different dishes on the floor and see which one he goes to.


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## Luciledodd

Rosie puts her kibble on the floor and she will bring it to the room where we are also by the nouthful. But, if there is a little wet food in the bowl, she will eat all food at once right from the bowl. Hint try mixing a spoon ful of wet dogfood with the kibble. Make sure that it is on all pieces. You will find though that a lot of our Havanese will take their kibble out of the bowl (actually a lot of small dogs do). And yes take up the food after a set time. They all eat when hungry.


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## Jan D

Yes...welcome to the world of strange eating habits. Don't fall into the games they play. Put her bowl down, if she doesn't eat in 20 minutes pick it up and feed the same bowl to her at her next meal. She will eat when she gets hungry and won't starve. Havee has missed 3 meals and always eats by the 4th. The vet suggested feeding him 1/2 the amount, maybe I was feeding him too much. That worked like a charm. It's so easy to fall into the games. We all do it at one time or another I think! Good luck! I do add 1 T. of soft food to his kibble too.


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## motherslittlehelper

Augie got so he wouldn't eat out of his dog bowl either - it was a stainless steel bowl - although he will drink water out of the same type bowl. So I started putting his food on the smallest size (dessert?) Fiesta Ware plate. Now the new puppy is looking at his water dish in a weird way. I had it in his ex-pen with him and have had to take it out. He was batting at the dish, pawing in it, scooting it across the floor and then standing back and looking at it suspiciously??? He gets drenched, the floor is drenched. Since I let him out frequently to play with Augie, I guess I will just have the one dish of water outside his ex-pen. They do seem to get strange ideas. And it is so funny how the other guy's food/water looks so much better to them than their own! :biggrin1: Just like kids, aren't they?? :biggrin1:


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## CrazieJones

Ooo, I have the same issue! But like what other people are suggesting, if he doesn't eat, he will when he's hungry. Also, my little Roshi started to like to eat out of his wobbly Kong more. I guess it's fun for him to play and eat meals at the same time :suspicious:


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## krandall

jessegirl said:


> Maybe I should just put his food in his bowl and if he doesn't eat it, take it away and repeat until he is hungry enough to eat (I know, a dog won't starve in the presence of food but it is hard to watch a growing pup skip a meal).


That's what I'd do... it sounds to me like he's training you good!:biggrin1:


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## krandall

motherslittlehelper said:


> Augie got so he wouldn't eat out of his dog bowl either - it was a stainless steel bowl - although he will drink water out of the same type bowl. So I started putting his food on the smallest size (dessert?) Fiesta Ware plate. Now the new puppy is looking at his water dish in a weird way. I had it in his ex-pen with him and have had to take it out. He was batting at the dish, pawing in it, scooting it across the floor and then standing back and looking at it suspiciously??? He gets drenched, the floor is drenched. Since I let him out frequently to play with Augie, I guess I will just have the one dish of water outside his ex-pen. They do seem to get strange ideas. And it is so funny how the other guy's food/water looks so much better to them than their own! :biggrin1: Just like kids, aren't they?? :biggrin1:


Kodi has a bol in the kitchen, but his ex-pen water source is a water bottle. MUCH less potential for mess!:biggrin1:


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## jessegirl

Thanks All. Okay, I know what to do and it is time to do it. 

To respond to your questions - we have tried different shaped and sized dishes and it hasn't made a difference. He drinks out of any water dish put in front of him including a match to the food bowl we'd like him to use so it isn't the shape. We do use treats for training (either pieces of the same kibble we're trying to get him to eat for dinner, which work just fine or smudges of cheese); it typically is very little in total, but he is very little so it must fill him up to some extent. As to how much he gets, we give him a heaping 1/4 cup scoop of food. I know he loves attention, but I don't think he does it for attention b/c we usually walk away if we put some food on the floor so it isn't like we hang out there and watch him.

As many of you said, it is probably a weird Hav ritual and we may never know why . . . . so mysterious! I won't worry about the why and focus on changing the behavior. I will keep everyone's messages about how their Havs skipped meals and didn't starve in mind to bolster me!


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## krandall

I also think this is just a stage Hav puppies go through. We never catered to it, but Kodi went through a stage of just skipping meals here and there. It may have something to do with growth patterns... they eat more when they are growing, then slow down when they're not in a growth spurt? 

In any case, they all seem very capable of turning their humans into "food slaves" if we let them... and most, eventually, grow up to have pretty normal eating habits.


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## JMGracie

Gracie went through the same thing. She still eats off the floor from time to time.

I don't know if it has something to do with picking too much up from the bowl. If she does go into the bowl, she'll drop a few pieces onto the ground as she chews one. It's like she has to eat them one at a time, and it's hard to pickup just one out of the bowl. What I usually do when she does that is move the little piles closer and closer to her bowl, and eventually she'll start taking bites out of the bowl.

It's weird, but I think it's partly just a phase. She used to eat almost exclusively out of our hands - that was a fun habit! Not in the bowl, not on the floor, it had to be in our hands. But she got over it eventually. 

The breeder basically told us - if she's hungry enough, she'll eat. I don't know if that's 100% true, but she definitely seems more likely to go for her bowl now than she used to be.


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## clare

Our Dizzie was not a great eater, and I always had to stand close by whilst he was eating otherwise he would just leave the food to be with DH or me,he also used to take food out of his dish and eat it from the floor,but now he is fine [he is 2 and a bit years old].Nellie has always been a good eater,but she too takes the food out of her dish and eats it from the floor or even her bean bag.


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## CrazieJones

I thought it was good to do some hand feeding... so that it will prevent 'guarding' habits. So I also use meal time as training time (cuz he's hungry). Just use 2-3 min at the beginning to do the basics (sit and down). Then I give him the rest of the food... bowl or Kong. 

But yes, I do agree with the growing part. It seems like when he does eat,the next day he appeared bigger. Maybe it's just me.


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## Laurief

It could be that Rollie is Lexi's partner in crime. Lexi is 6 years old, and has decided that she does not want to eat out a bowl al together.  She will not eat, she will bark at the bowl - and like Rollie - she will eat if you put the food on the floor. 

We finally - after weeks of this figured it out~~ she does not like bowls! She will not only eat off of a plate. 

I would try that - maybe that is the issue.


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## siewhwee

Our Hav, Ralphie went through this phase also. One minute (when we just got him) he is eating his kibbles from the bowl, and the next minute, he would sniff them and walk away. We had to put his kibbles on the mat where his water and kibbles bowls are or he wouldn't eat them. His water bowl is exactly the same as the one for his kibbles. We have also tried different kinds of bowls. No dice. He is now 15 months old, and all of a sudden, he is eating his kibbles from the bowl. Go figure!


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## jessegirl

I love all of your feeding stories! Pretty soon they'll demanding china and crystal! I really don't mind if he wants to put it or drop it on the floor himself, I just don't want to get engaged in any weird rituals that will stick.

So I do have an update. He really didn't eat much food for lunch or dinner yesterday, but he was very happy to work for the same kibble during a couple brief training sessions yesterday evening. This morning he ate most of his kibble, out of the bowl. Same with lunch. So as soon as the problem comes, it goes away. I'm now comfortable letting him skip a meal or two and I feel so reassured from all of your comments that this is normal and nothing to worry about (albeit as long as he is otherwise looking like his usual self).


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## DiegoCF_Boston

Diego used to eat from his bowl the whole time! But he's now grabbing a mouthful and dropping it on the floor next to the bowl and eating a nugget at a time!! He's so freakin weird!! eace:


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## Luciledodd

Might as well get used to this behavior. I used to have a mini schnauzer that took her food to the dining room bite by bite and ate under the table. DH hated this behavior--going to runin the carpert, etc. Rosie does this and he thinks it is the cutest thing. She turned over the plastic bowl in the hotel room and had food all over their carpet. That wasn't funny--especially the water bowl.


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## Dalmane

Does Rollie have a rabies or ID tag hanging from his collar? Sometimes they clang on the bowl or dish and annoy them


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## TilliesMom

Tillie was totally in the "take a mouth full of food to another room" club, she also never really ate a full meal, a few kibble at a time... until I started homecooking. LOL wowwwwweeeee what a change! She is a CHOW HOUND, gone in 30 seconds flat! LOL no more dragging it all over the house for sure!!


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## motherslittlehelper

TilliesMom said:


> Tillie was totally in the "take a mouth full of food to another room" club, she also never really ate a full meal, a few kibble at a time... until I started homecooking. LOL wowwwwweeeee what a change! She is a CHOW HOUND, gone in 30 seconds flat! LOL no more dragging it all over the house for sure!!


That is wonderful, Tammy! - that she appreciates your efforts! When my three boys were growing up, invariably, one of them would not like what I had fixed. I got so tired of hearing "Mom, I don't like this" - UGH.

Augie is more of a picky eater. Some days one meal, some days two. On the days he eats two, he may eat very little the following day. He does get some training treats when we practice our Rally exercises, but I try to make them extremely small. Finn scarfs his food down. And if I have forgotten to pick up Augie's plate when I let Finn out of the ex-pen to play, he races for Augie's plate and grabs as much as he can as fast as he can before I can pick it up - a whole mouthful and then he will go off to the side and drop it and eat it.


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