How can I get my dog to eact from her bowl?

Question

She's affraid of her bowl and will not approach it, so I usually have to hand feed her or put the food on the floor or a napkin and then she'll happily eat. I've bought different kinds of bowls, but nothing has worked.

Answer 1

Your dog is afraid of her bowl? I hope she's not your guard dog. Put her food in it and she'll eat it eventually. She won't starve herself to death. (Dogs aren't THAT dumb).

Answer 2

depending on what type of bowl you have, it may be an issue with scents. Sounds weird but it is true. Many dogs have issues eating out of ceramic bowls and plastic bowls because of the materials and chemicals used to produce teh bowls. Ceramic bowls usually have paint on them and are sometimes baked using various methods at different temperatures with different materials not just clay. Plastic bowls are formed using machines and even though most bowls are washed before leaving the factory, the scent of the machines or factory are still on them. Steel bowls are all I prefer to use because you can see when they are clean and when they are dirty. Also, the scent is not somethign that can get ingrained into the material. Also, there is no paint or chemicals used to shape the bowls. Only a press is used to give the bowl its shape.

With that said, regardless of what bowl you have, before you place the food in it and give it to the dog, thoroughly wash it with some kind of soap for dishes. This helps get rid of any possible scent except for the smell of soap. Next, to encourage the dog to eat from the bowl the first day or two, mix in some wet/canned food with the kibble. You can buy the small cans of wet food so you don't have to pay too much. they range from 55 cents up to $1.50. If you only have one dog, one can should be enough for two days. Mix in the food with the kibble you give normally. Before you place the bowl on the ground, run your finger into some of the gravy or liquid from the wet food and let your dog smell it and taste it. Do thise once or twice. Then lower the bowl to their nose level and let them smell it. Then walk around a little bit so that they are chasing you. Place the bowl on the ground and let them go at it. I've suggested this to over 30 people and all of them have told me that after two day, the dog would always eat out of a bowl.

Oh, and do not feed your dog from an elevated bowl. Keep the bowl on teh ground or as close to the ground as possible. Contrary to popular belief, elevated bowls actually increase the chance of a dog developing bloat by up to 200%.

Answer 3

Your dog has you trained well.

Put something with a really nice aroma and taste in the bowl
and change it as often as is required to keep it fresh.

In the wild, they may go days between kills.
So, this is not cruel or dangerous to not feed her
(except from the bowl) I imagine she'll go for it
in 3 days or so.

She'll eat from the bowl when she gets hungry enough.

Where does she drink from? No suggesting you change that from a bowl, but make sure she does have water.

P.S. For all the wimps who'll say it's cruel, give her some food within 5 days..

Actually, a little bit of food can trigger their appetite for more.
Make sure she sees that the food you gave her came from the bowl (feed on paper towel right next to bowl with food).

Answer 4

Well, first of all, this is not a big problem. You can throw her the food too. Another good way is to take a piece of dog food and lead your hand with the dog food to the bowl. If the results are the same, then I suggest you move the dog bowl somewhere else. Do not leave the dog bowl near a trash can or bathroom door. Leave it near a nice spot, with no oders.

Answer 5

I had this problem with my 6 year old dog too. One day she just decided that the reflection in her stainless steel bowl was scary, and lost a lot of weight (from 78 pounds to 69) during the month or so that I refused to cave in to her whims.

Eventually I changed her dish, and then also the location of it (she seemed to be reacting to the minute sound of my ceramic tile floor cracking - probaably what caused the phobia to begin with!).

She now eats regularly again, although my suggestion to you would be to try not to "baby" her and hand feed her, as you are reinforcing this habit. Eventually she's got to eat, whether she likes her dish or not. But I understand, easier said than done!

P.S. Have you tried raising her bowl onto a platform? Sometimes it's a case of having a hard time swallowing while the food is at ground level.

Answer 6

She doesn't need to eat out of the bowl if you put the food on the floor/napkin or hand feed her. She has trained you so that she doesn't need to eat out of it.

She wont be afraid of the bowl after she uses it for a while and gets used to it. But you have to stop feeding her outside of using the bowl. Make sure you ingnore her when she whines about using it, or you will be reinforcing her bad behavior.

Good luck!

Answer 7

Just leave the food in the bowl. She'll eat it when she get's really hungry. After a few times she'll associate the need to eat with the bowl and not your hand. Also don't overfeed. Often dogs would eat from your hand coz that's the object they associate with attention/petting which is a different need.

Answer 8

Have you talked to the vet about this problem? If it is not psycological it could be something to do with her muzzel. Have you tried a plate? Maybe she'll eat out of that? Has anyone scolded her for stealing food off the counters or table? If so she probley thinks she got in trouble for eating out of the dish. Try putting in some treats of meat into the dish and everytime she gets close to it praise her! Every time you feed her or giver her treats try to put them into her dish and praise her when she eats out of it.

Answer 9

try putting some on the ground right by the bowl.

Answer 10

try a paper plate.