Questions And Answers On How To Get A Dog To Eat

Posted by Lesley | Posted on 14-02-2012

Donald asks…

How do I get my dog to eat it’s own food?

My dog eats table scraps and loves human food, now he wont even dare eat his own food because he got so used to scraps. Is there a better solution to fix this issue?

Lesley answers:

From this moment no more table scraps. Put his own dog food in his food bowl and dish up at say 8 in the morning. If he does not eat, after 15 minutes take the food away. Around 4 pm offer him the food again. Just put it down and walk away, do not pet him or beg him to eat. He will probably ignore the bowl of food. After 15 minutes take the food away.
Next morning you get the food out at 8 am if that was the time you tried to feed him in the morning. If he ignores it, take it away, present the food again at 4 pm. If he ignores it take the food away after 15 minutes.
It may take 2-3 or 4 days for your dog to become hungry enough and realise that there is no other food coming his way. He will only be too happy to eat when you next give him food.
He will not starve in the meantime. Do not give any treats and don’t be tempted by the puppy dog cute eyes to give him something from your plate or table.
Also when you are eating, do not have him in the same room as you.
Remember that a healthy dog will never starve himself.

Mark asks…

How do I make my dog eat Purina One Adult food?

Hey, My dog is a poodle terrier and he is 2 human years old and he will only eat Pedigree canned food. Im tired of buying my dog canned food. So I recently went to Petsmart and picked up a bag of Purina One Adult food. But when I try to feed him he wont eat it. What should I do to get him to eat it? Should i starve him until he eats it? I need Help!!

Lesley answers:

I feed ONE too. I mix a small amount of canned with the dry and add a little warm water. I would offer it, leave it down for 15 or 20 minutes, then take it up. Don’t give him anything at all till the next meal. Repeat as needed. The dog will NOT starve, believe me.

Sandy asks…

How can I make my dog eat?

My dog Hershey, is a mini dachshund. He just went to the vet on Saturday 9-8-07. He had some back trouble. He is taking 2 different kinds of medication. The only way I can get him to take one of his medications is put it in a marshmallow. The question I am asking is, How can I get my dog to eat his dog food? I just changed his food the other day to Pedigree Healthy Maturity. He won’t eat it. Know he did eat his food on Sunday afternoon, but he hasn’t eaten since then. How can I get him to eat again?

Lesley answers:

Before and after ops is never a good time to change any part of your dogs’ routine – especially the diet. The body needs to concentrate on staying calm and healing, not as easy as it may sound. Your dogs’ body knew where to find the various bits of goodness it needs, from the old diet, and the new one will have flummoxed it. I would say to go back to the OLD diet until Hershey is feeling himself again, and then, if you still want to, change it slowly.

Nancy asks…

How do I get my dog to eat over her bowl?

When my dog eats she will take a mouthful of food and walk 5ft away from her bowl and begin to chew her food. This causes nothing but crumbs over my carpet and I’m getting sick of vacuuming it! What can I do so she eats at her bowl?

Lesley answers:

Try putting something yummy in her bowl, such as peanut butter, or soft egg, or creamy cheese spread, then put food on top of it. Or put water or broth over her food to mush it up. Gradually reduce moisture as she learns. Or, You could put down a mat where she normally takes it.

Carol asks…

how does my dog eat if it has a smart collar on?

So today around 3 am my dog got in a fight with a raccoon, and luckily he survived and went to the emergency to get surgery and when we took him home they put a smart collar on him so he won’t lick himself. the collar is really big and he can’t even bend down to eat or drink water. What do you guys suggest doing?