Is this normal for a puppy??

Question

She is only 12 weeks old german shepherd/lab mix. When she eats she stuff her mouth with food, then walks away and drops food as she walks, sometimes into other rooms. And then walks back eating the food she has dropped. I have never seen a puppy or a dog do this and she keeps making a mess.

Does anyone have any suggesstions on how to make her stop?

She is crate trained. My vet told me not to feed her in her crate because he crate is for sleeping and she will get confused.

Answer 1

aww that is just so adorable! that is what my pomeranian does too and she is around the same age as your dog! don't worry about it cause i have asked this same question to the veteranian and he said that it's really normal for dogs that age. when she picks up the food she can't eat them all at the same time cause of her undeveloped teeth so she eats some then ends up dropping some and finds the ones she dropped later and ends up eating them too! once her teeth get developed she'll be fine=] this is actually very common so don't worry about it. if you don't want the mess u can get her to eat at one room and when she's done take the bowl away and let her play around in your house again. goodluck to you and your precious puppy!!!

Answer 2

This is normal, I have two german shepherds an only my female does this. Also you can feed her in the crate it would better because she can not walk all over the place and drop it. Or do what I always do, stand by an watch tv or something, then when she about to leave get up then tell her no and push her towards her food this will really teach her and put a dog place mate down under her food.

Answer 3

If you're crate training her, do not feed her in the crate. The crate is their quiet place to go. She's still only 12 weeks old. Try feeding her a bit at a time. I know, it takes time to do this. Put a bite or two in her bowl and let her eat it. there won't be enough there to stuff herself with. When she finishes that, you can add a bit more. Caution - don't exceed her normal food dose doing this. Give her only as much as she should normally get at one feeding. If you're uncertain as to what her 12 week old nutrition requirements are, check with your vet, please. She should ideally be on a large breed, puppy kibble at 12 weeks.
Remember, this behavior is not cute, or adorable, or anything else like that. It is, however, a behavior you can change with a little time and patience invested. Also, make sure she's getting enough feedings per day. it's almost like she's trying to make up for lost time here. Again, questions on feedings and puppy nutrution - call you vet..

Answer 4

Many dogs do this.I think it's a territorial thing. My golden retriever did it a lot when he was younger. I hadn't seen him do it in a long long time and then he did it this morning! (He's 4 yrs old) We do have other pets in the house.
It's almost like he wants to take a good look at what he's eating and who's around him while he's eating..

The solution I had when he was younger was to block him in the kitchen until his food was gone. It contained the mess and he usually cleaned up after himself by eating what he had dropped.

Answer 5

This is normal/
this often happens if it's a large litter and the pup needed to get the food away from teh others and it's something I've never been able to break as others have said the only thing is to put up a gate to keep in one room.

Answer 6

Carrying food around like that is not abnormal. I wouldn't say that a LOT of puppies do it, but it isn't all that uncommon...even for adult dogs. To teach your puppy not to make a mess like this, confine her to a smaller area while she eats. Use baby gates or something similar to confine her to one room...like the kitchen or utility room...so that she can't spread her mess to other rooms.

Most likely, she is doing this as a way to entertain herself, and possibly because it gets your attention. If you confine her to a much smaller area and ignore her while she eats, making such a mess won't be as fun for her any more. Eventually she will learn to just eat instead of playing with her food, because doing so will mean she gets finished faster and can come play with you again.

Answer 7

My dog (german shephard/lab mix) does the same thing. Where is her food bowl? I have hers in the hall and then she usually carries it into the living room. THe reason that I was told was that they like to be where their humans are. When I had her bowl in the living room where we eat, she didn't do it so put the bowl in the room that you spend the most time in and/or eat in.

Answer 8

You should be crate training the puppy. That way, she's confined to a space that she'll learn to recognize as her own safe little joint. Dogs don't like their living area to be messy. This will help in stopping her food messes and also house break her.

When you give her food, leave it for her for 30 minutes. If she plays with it and doesn't finish it, don't worry. Just take the food away after 30 minutes. She'll learn she needs to eat it and not play with it.

Answer 9

When I feed my pups, I put them inside their kennel (they have seperate crates), they spill their food sometimes (mostly because they are in such a hurry to eat!!!) but they do eat whatever spills on their mattress. This way, I can contain whatever mess they make inside their crate without having to worry about them messing the whole house. I did this training with them, to avoid having two pups fighting over a bowl of food. I have been doing this ever since the first day and they are used to it. Now every feeding time, its easier for me, because they both go inside their own crate and wait for their food. =)

Answer 10

It's average dog conduct. He's trying out the limitations, seeing which laws are firmly in position. The coaching categories are going to support. They will honestly be a lifesaver in handling this. Part of this age. He's nonetheless finding out the principles and it is as much as us to coach them. The teacher is helping since we do not consistently recognise the correct means and every puppy is special. We had been not able to make use of the yelp in this final dog - it appears all of us gave the impression of massive squeeky toys and bought her extra excited. The factor that ultimately labored for us used to be making use of the crate as a timeout. We had been by no means allowed to position her in there in anger. We effortlessly scooped her up whilst it occurred, even by chance, and mentioned "What a bummer!" Then deposited her within the crate for approximately fifteen mins. We located that 9 occasions out of ten, she used to be asleep by the point we got here again. She looked as if it would most likely be mouthing whilst she used to be overtired (like a cranky little one). Anyways, all it took used to be per week of this (however all of us needed to be steady - husband, children and I) and it stopped. You would step by step see her commencing to believe and pulling herself again. Here we're six months later and no disorders! She without doubt LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her crate and can nonetheless crate herself in the course of the day for naps (we not near the door at the crate and he or she has graduated to a puppy mattress subsequent to our mattress) so the timeouts labored with out ruining the crate best since they had been by no means performed in anger. We've been by way of newbie and intermediate categories and could not be happier! The quicker you begin them the greater, I've located. 12 weeks is the ideal time. Hitting your puppy does not coach him whatever besides that you are a painful individual to be round. The confident reinforcement that you're going to be taught at school will probably be very useful. Good good fortune and feature amusing!