Why does my dog do this?

Question

I have a dog and she is an 8 year old wheaten terrier and i have had her for nine months. She really does not like her dog food and she eats the cats food instead and i really want her to start eating her dog food. Also she will eat everything even apples and letuce its really weird. How do i get her to eat her dog food?

Answer 1

Her previous owner probably fed her "people food", which isn't terribly healthy for your dog (most of it isn't all that good for people either, but thats another topic!), and so she's used to eating it.

Step 1: You eat first (it's a dominance thing with dogs, whoever is in charge eats first) and DO NOT feed her from the table.

Step 2: Feed her and the cat seperately to prevent her eating the cat food (don't leave cat food sitting out)

Step 3: After you've eaten, set out a bowl of dog food for her. (The serving size depends on the dog)

Step 4: Provide her a reasonable amount of time to eat her food, and then put it away. Yes, we are going to force her to convert to dog food through hunger. We're not mean, just somewhat insensitive to whining for a while!

Step 5: Repeat steps 1-4 so that the dog has two opportunities to eat each day. No more, no less....and keep it consistent! Tell her she's a good doggie when she eats her food, you'll be surprised how fast she catches on!

Best of luck!

Answer 2

Put your Cat's food up where only your cats will get to it. Feed your dog "Small Bits" food. She will eat it when she gets hungry. It is very important that she does eat dog food. Also try dog food for Senior dogs since she's a senior now, it'll have all the nutrition that she will need. Make sure the dogs food is the small bites kind, cause if it's not it may be why she was eating the cats food. Hope this helped, best of luck.

Answer 3

First, don't let her eat cat food. It's not a healthy diet for dogs. Dogs usually want it, though, because it is tasty. Feed your cat in a higher spot where the dog can't reach.
Then, when she gets hungry, she will eat the dog food.
Of course she might prefer another brand; you could try that.
It's all right for her to eat some fruit and vegetables if she likes them, but they won't satisfy her in the long run.

Answer 4

The best thing to do is remove all other foods. No treats or goodies.
Put the dog food bowl down for her and wait 20 minutes, if she doesn't eat..take the food away until tomorrow. A couple if days of that and she will suddenly love her dogfood.!

Answer 5

get her a new brand or a different flavor. she may not like the smell and the taste of your current brand. Dogs are like people they have favorites too :)

If you don't want to change the brand add a little something with the dog food..some dogs don't like dry food all the time.

Answer 6

make sure she is eating a good quality dogfood.. Keep the cat food up and away so she can't get to it.. Put her quality kibble down for her and leave it. When she's hungry she'll eat.. If you keep giving in and feeding her cat food or people food, she'll never eat her dogfood, why should she?

Answer 7

well all dogs do that.. but just keep the dog food until she eat it you don't need to change it
she'll eat eat when she really hungry trust me she won't starve herself

Answer 8

do you use wet or dry dog food?
if you use only dry food, try mixing some wet food with it

my cousin has a 9 year old dog and he doesnt like to eat only dry dog food, its like he needs to have the wet food mixed with it

Answer 9

try mixing human food in with the dogs food,my aunt in florida does this and her dog eats every morsel.

Answer 10

yeah allright, welcome to the dog world. they eat anything, i mean, anything. poo included.