A dog does not eat from a bowl, but eats from his hands - one of the most common problems of novice dog breeders, also just pet lovers. Let us examine some of them that are most often encountered in practice.
Inappropriate bowl
It is simply inconvenient for a puppy to eat from a bowl, for example because of its size, as well as its height. The size of the bowl should be chosen depending on the breed of the dog, some breeds just need stands. This reason is very easy to deal with, you just need to choose a suitable bowl and purchase it.
Dirty or alien
A puppy may refuse to eat food from a bowl if it smells strange or simply unfamiliar and unpleasant odors. Typical situation: you washed the bowl using a detergent, but did not wash well enough due to which the dog smells chemistry and refuses to eat food from such dishes.
There are times when pets are very respectful and reverent to other people's property and prefer to eat exclusively from their bowl. In these cases, it will be good enough to wash and rinse the bowl, in order to get rid of third-party odors.
Fright
Fright is often found in puppies. In puppy periods, the dog remembers any threat very well, and so well that it will be practically impossible to wean from fear to a harmless bowl. Imagine the situation that you bought a new bowl with a stand, and a clumsy puppy knocked it over, which caused a panic fear of dishes.
The dog will not come to this stand, even if hunger will prevail.The complexity of this case lies in the fact that you simply do not know and do not understand what exactly the dog is afraid of, since such an event could have happened without your presence or even with the past owner. To solve the problem, you will need to buy a completely different bowl so that it differs from the previous one in all respects.
Pet spoiling
Far from the very last reason is arrogance. The pet is extremely demanding and sure that you will feed him, in particular from the hands, and even better from the table, harmful, but tasty treats. Pampering is manifested in the inviolability of the bowl and the subsequent meeting and begging for food from the master table. To solve this problem, it is enough to completely exclude complementary foods with all sorts of goodies. Put the bowl with the food literally for fifteen minutes, if you haven’t eaten, then remove the bowl before the next meal.
The pet refuses to eat dry food
It happens that a pet stops eating dry food, even if he ate it with pleasure before. Here, not everything is so simple and the reason may be extraordinary. We will analyze the main reasons.
Unusual for him food
If in everyday life pets are fed with natural feed, then they constantly have to cook. In cases where it is annoying or simply necessary during travel, because of its convenience, dry food is used. Owners give food to pets, and it seems to them unattractive or just tough.
Different smells
If the dog always eats dry food, then one of the reasons for refusal may be a change of brand or poor-quality food.By human standards, the food has no differences, but the dog’s sensitive sense of smell can’t be fooled.
Impudent and spoiled behavior
Small dog breeds are very selective for food and in case of refusal of a bowl a treat is offered, and soon the usual food completely switches to treats harmful to the pet. In this case, you need to exclude complementary foods or completely change the diet.
Make a little tastier
Pets such as dogs are extremely undemanding in the variety of food, but they can also be fed up with a uniform taste. One of the reasons may lie in the abrupt stop of flavors (some owners add kefir to dry food), or the pet realizes that it’s tastier on the master table, and maybe it’s different and falls over. Mixing food is allowed only when the pet is transferred from one brand of feed to another, not otherwise.
Stress
Like humans, dogs are subject to various stresses. They are difficult to experience loneliness, a change of residence or the loss of an owner. If stress has occurred in the life of the pet, it must be eliminated or the dog must be adapted to the factor that worries her. In especially advanced cases, you will need to contact a specialist and further use of plant-based sedatives. In any case, it will take some time to carry out adaptation.
The pet pulls food out of the bowl and eats it exclusively from the floor
This problem is quite common. The dog pulls out and scatters food, after which it spreads on the floor.Or he pulls out a piece and drags it to a secluded place. Such behavior quickly bothers the owners, because of the need to constantly wipe and mop the floors. This pet behavior can be caused by the following reasons.
Instinct is from the earth, transmitted by inheritance: from generation to generation. You can’t argue with genetics, and in this case you should resort to chopping food, or seek help from a specialist dog handler.
The desire to eat the most delicious in the first place
The pet pulls out pieces of meat from the bowl and puts it on the floor, thereby separating the different ingredients of the feed. To deal with this problem is easy enough, try chopping the meat into smaller pieces, and then stirring well, the result will be noticeable immediately. In the case when the dog selects grains - try to boil the porridge to a homogeneous mass.
Fear of losing a tidbit
This problem is identified when you have several pets at once or if the dog was brought from a kennel, where she had to share with her neighbors. The pet selects a piece for itself and reflexively pulls away from the place where the bowl is located in order to avoid further sharing.
In this case, as in the previous one, the solution lies on the surface. You just need to mix and grind the large ingredients of your feed so that the pet just has nothing to pull out.
Do not let food be dragged away, and encourage eating from a bowl. You can also and should try feeding in very small portions so that everything is eaten at a time.Stretch this process of eating for about fifteen minutes, for several such sessions, the dog will learn to eat from a bowl and stop dragging and hiding with food.
