Weird eating habit????

[Jango]

Jango has started some weird habit lately. My wife feeds him in the morning and I feed him at night. Well, when she feeds him, he follows her to the bowl, she says sit, he does it, then she sets it down and says "eat." He doesn't. He just sits there. She came and got me from bed, I walk into the room and he starts eating. ????????? Now this morning she had to leave early so I got to feed him. He does the same thing to me. Sits there and stares at it. In the afternoon he has no problems. Fix his food, make him sit, and say eat. He is all over it. Sound familiar to anyone????? He gets 15 minutes to eat. If he does not eat or doesn't eat it all it gets put away. Any comments would be great.

[SonnyRott]

No, it doesn't sound familiar but I would set it down and go do something like wash the dishes. You can stay in the same room, just don't stare at him while he eats.

It could also be that in the morning he knows that you will be leaving soon and he is a bit anxious with all the hustling and bustling around him. Sometimes the dogs would rather be with you than eat. At night he knows your home to stay so it's no big deal.

[SABELLESMOM]

Our older girl did this with just one meal at approx. the same age. We ignored it, thinking she may have been ready to go to one meal...which I don't do. It's 2 at our house, even for adults. Fourteen months is kind of at the end of a sort of growth spurt. Instead I cut back on the amount just a bit and it resolved itself.

[Burnsway]

Originally Posted by Jango

sets it down and says "eat."

Try using another release word that he knows.......Like Its OK or just OK instead of eat...... (be peppy and happy about it)

Also as sonny said if you leave after he is finished that may not be such a nice reward to him......

Otherwise just ignore it and don't make a big deal out of it. Doesn't sound like he is starving......

[Andy UK]

My dog doesnt need me or my partner to be in the room with her but she does need us to be in the house otherwise she wont eat a thing. Sometimes if just one of us is in the spare room working out she cant eat until you get out. She is a very odd dog if Im honest !

[Birdie'sMom]

Birdie always eats her morning meal, but sometimes if we feed her dinner and then go out she will leave it until we get home and then eat it.

[Sue]

When we fed one time per day, it was in the morning. They would eat very little until we returned from work. Then they gobbled it down. Now we feed twice per day and they're dancin' when the scoops come out. These are different dogs too.....