Dog Only Eats Dry Food When I Sit And Watch Him?

[GABBA]

Hi, i have a one year old Dogue De Bordeaux, who only eats his dry food if i sit outside and watch him. In a normal meal i give him some chicken parts (legs, necks, etc) and some dry food. If im doing other things i'll dish it up and serve it to him and go inside, in which case he will eat the chicken and leave the dry food (for hours, often overnight - as i dont remove the plate).

If i sit down on a chair outside while he is eating, he will eat all his chicken and continue eating the dry food. This is not really a problem, im just wondering why he is doing this...

Anyone have any ideas?

[kirst_goldens]

maybe he doesnt like it? eats it later when he is really hungry? maybe it is a accidentally trained thing as well he did it a few times in a row and someone maybe the breeder or urself sat with him whilst he ate it... so now he thinks u need to bethere wiht him?? dont know lol

[Bubitty]

He probably doesn't like it too much and is being precious so is only eating it when there are other "incentives"!

Bubby is like this when he has to eat frozen fish! Gives me various "looks" and sits at the back door until I come out to sit with him while he chows it down.

[D & D]

Maybe he doesn't really like it but thinks that you may eat it before him if you're there watching him???

I had a dog who would empty her bowl whenever a certain friend came over..............he was a police dog handler. She never did it with anyone else. The only thing we could figure was that she thought he'd steal her food

No idea, really.

[Erny]

When my dog (who has digestive issues and is on special food diet at the moment) isn't too 'in' to his food, he too will leave it in preference to sticking around with me and what I'm doing. The power of me being off somewhere and doing something else that he thinks he might be missing out on is too great. Sometimes if I stick in the room with him, he'll eat his meal - or at least more of it. Because of his health issues, I sometimes do this, but I try to avoid it where I think it is unnecessary as this can fairly easily become a learnt behaviour.

On other occasions however, when he is more hungry and 'in' to his food, he will eat without me needing to be present.

So I agree with others - the dry food is a lower value food and not worth sticking around for by comparison to hanging around to see what you are doing.

[Pom]

My 4 year old ddb did the same thing, although he's never been a big eater anyway. I switched dry foods untill I found one he liked and occationlly I'll put something really tasty on top, like sardines or liver sprinkles to make it extra tasty.

But now if he's having an extra fussy day he just misses out on dinner.

[Henrietta]

When my dog (who has digestive issues and is on special food diet at the moment) isn't too 'in' to his food, he too will leave it in preference to sticking around with me and what I'm doing. The power of me being off somewhere and doing something else that he thinks he might be missing out on is too great. Sometimes if I stick in the room with him, he'll eat his meal - or at least more of it. Because of his health issues, I sometimes do this, but I try to avoid it where I think it is unnecessary as this can fairly easily become a learnt behaviour.

On other occasions however, when he is more hungry and 'in' to his food, he will eat without me needing to be present.

So I agree with others - the dry food is a lower value food and not worth sticking around for by comparison to hanging around to see what you are doing.

Oh yes, been there, done that. Dry food is not exactly high value here and I have been suckered in to the bolded behaviour in the past. In my determination to get her to eat, I'd even do a few training exercises first, although I'm a great believer in just letting dogs eat...

And it wasn't a taste thing either. I have had my girl turn up her nose at a few dry foods, I know what that is like. This was just a 'dry isn't my favourite thing, you should be playing with me instead' or some such.

I eventually got into a routine that was simple. Plate down, I left the room. 15 minutes later I come back and pick up the food. Whether or not, my dog has eaten half, all or none. And it would go back in the container for the next evening (I feed raw in the morning). It didn't take long for little miss to figure out that she did like her dry ok after all.

Mind you, my girl has no health problems, so I was ok with that. I also knew that it probably wouldn't take long for her to start eating, has she is quite active with a healthy appetite. If I was worried she was going to keep skipping her dry meals and only having the raw, I would've been only offering kibble for a while so I knew she was getting a balance diet.

Added - I would get some samples of dry just for your pooch to taste. I went through a few dries before I found one that was apparently palatable to my girl.

EFS

Edited January 16, 2011 by Henrietta

[xKALIx]

I eventually got into a routine that was simple. Plate down, I left the room. 15 minutes later I come back and pick up the food. Whether or not, my dog has eaten half, all or none. And it would go back in the container for the next evening (I feed raw in the morning). It didn't take long for little miss to figure out that she did like her dry ok after all.

I have done this myself and recommended it to many people with 'fussy' dogs. It works a charm.Dog soon realises the food isn't going to be left there forever and they learn to eat it straight away. I hate to leave food out for them to graze as it encourages mice and birds in to eat it.

[Henrietta]

I know some dogs just eat from the bowl. My dog takes pieces from the bowl and carries them over to her mat, chews them one by one. Sometimes, she even plays with her dry. Hitting it across the floor, throwing it in the air. I think she just likes to fart arse around. I have had to keep that in mind too, when it comes to picking up her food. I was strict at first, but then I realised that if she is showing interest in the food, she will eat it, so I let it go now and give her another 5 minutes.