My dog won't eat (Training)

50,110

300 0

Published 2013-09-18

PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING Refusing to eat was a symptom of anxiety. By treating the underlying cause, the behavior disappeared. Rosie now eats like a normal dog. And for those who say "She doesn't like the 'crap' you're giving her. Feed her something different" we settled on this kibble (after trying 3 others) because she would eat it in certain circumstances. My roommate fed this to her dog, and when he didn't finish his breakfast, Rosie would steal his leftovers. So clearly she liked it since she thought it was worth stealing/resource guarding. Again, the food/taste wasn't the problem, it was anxiety.
What DIDN'T work for us:
Changing foods, Canned food, adding warm water, feeding in a different room, eating with/without other animals at meal times, cutting big kibbles into smaller pieces, and hiding treats in her food, and adding probiotics to aid in digestion. We got SOME success with adding raw food to her dry food. After eating well for a month she started refusing food again.

All Comments (21)

@mariposasinsol 5 years ago

At 5 months, our goldendoodle just stopped eating out of his bowl. We took him to the vet, they gave us a bunch of tips, we tried them all. Spent money on different dog foods but he would eat human food but Vet said, try not to do this. So now, he only eats his food out of our hands but is still not eating the recommended amount. We're hoping once he is out of the hormone, anxiety and teething stage we can re-train him to eat from a bowl. We were making ourselves crazy and trying to make sure we were still good pack leaders so I appreciate this video and when it comes time to train him again, we may give this a try...he's super active and isn't losing weight now thankfully. Again just to say we tried all of the tips you tried with Rosie. Right now we are just glad he eats even if it's hand feeding for the moment. Glad she has you guys to love her this much. x
@madhanaero 3 years ago

Thank you so much ! I was worried. My puppy was not eating. Tried your method. It worked. So happy 🥰
@JeffmChicago 3 years ago

It has taken me long enough to research that info. Glad I found you. Thanks for sharing.
@angelica534 3 years ago

Awesome thank you
@kayzzzzzzzzz 6 years ago

She’s adorable!!!
@bravofoxtrot19 9 years ago

Great dedicated dog owner!
@lagrenadenet 7 years ago

You are a very nice personn. Wanted you to know it. Kindness is such a rare thing.
@mollykelly929 5 years ago

Thanks for posting this, my dog is the same way and your training idea has worked for us!!
@_HugoQueiroz 6 years ago

Thanks a lot for this, it really helped me with my dog.
@elizabethc9826 7 years ago

This helped so much!!! Thank you.
@hassankhan4568 9 years ago

Yes Lindsay Kinney your are right i think this is good training for this type of dog
@IvyWhiskeyDram 10 years ago

Thank you sooo much i am glad that the first video i got wasn't simply pick up and let her starve etc. I have a 8 month old Lakeland Terrier and these last 2 weeks she has gone from gorging her food to not eating it hardly and i tried hand feeding which she liked at first but now she won't do that. She gets nervous just like your dog. I will give this a try. (wish me luck)
@carolbrown8701 2 years ago

Hi. My dog recently stopped eating other than when hand fed a piece at a time. It was after I’d been really busy for a couple of weeks and hadn’t paid her any attention. It was very worrying. I tried just leaving her food out for a day and not hand feeding her but she didn’t touch it. Also if she was given a treat she just hid it. Vet couldn’t find anything wrong. Finally tried buying a range of foods and treats. Most she wouldn’t touch but I found a wet food that was meaty and smelled appetising. She really liked it and today she’s had her first full meal. She liked the bowl clean. I think you should try something that has a strong appetising smell and is juicy and meaty. If your dog goes for it then add some hot water to it to make a mushy gravy and mix the dry food into it. It’s worked for my dog. Good luck x. By the way when I was much younger I would go on starvation diets to lose weight rapidly. By the 3 rd day of not eating I would totally lose my appetite. I don’t know if it’s the same for dogs but if it is - just waiting until they decide to eat may make matters much worse.
@theposhdogcompany6872 4 years ago

thanks lindsay 👌
@yuramrche 8 years ago

great job I'll try it with my dog thank u!
@carlotamorana74 3 years ago

Thanks for this video, I'm having similar issues with my new adopted dog. Did you solve the feeding issue by commiting to this technique on the long term or had to do something else. I see the video was posted 7 years ago.
@nintendogshappy8094 8 years ago

My dog is the same way. I'll try this!
@khanfinanceacademy7202 4 years ago

Most people say to try "tough love" , but it won't work with my dog. He is 3 months German Shepherd and really really skinny. He got cleared from vet. I tried almost EVERY brand of dog food to see which one he likes. He eats them at first for few days and quits. I am beyond frustrated. He plays and all, but eats like half a cup a day. He would raw food only if hand fed. I never had this issue with any of my dogs. I wish there was a way to fix this awful behavior. I tried this method but he just looked at the food and moved away and asking for raw. I don't want him to become a weak dog as he grows.
@luckychucky3426 3 years ago

I've got a dog almost like yours I'm talking about personality he's a fussy eater 2 he's not like other dogs that I've had seems like he could care less about eating my other dogs use the Goblet down like it was the last meal they we're ever going to get
@rebeccatrono3376 9 years ago

Dogs use the power of food as a leadership signal. Use Gesture Eating to get your dog back on track!