Q: My dog won't eat unless I watch him?
He's about seven years old. He has this weird habit of making you watch him or at least be close by while he eats. Right now I have my door open so he can see me while he eats his food. Last night he would bark and make me get out of bed so I could stand by him while he ate. I have no idea why he does this. Sometimes he will eat if I'm not around but otherwise if I'm home he gets my attention to watch him eat.
Photo Credit: Georgie Pauwels/Flickr CC
I did feed him when he was a pup. I gave him his bottles and fed him puppy food every day. Could he just be used to having me nearby when he eats? I find it rather odd.. Sometimes it gets annoying so I tell him "Go eat your food!" and he will go on his own to eat but he walks back after every bite to make sure I'm around the house.
Answers and Views:
Answer by anabaci
As a trainer, many people have this problem, whether it be that the dog can't eat without their owner or go outside, etc. This is purely a problem with the dog owner. You LOVE it that your dog can't do something without you! Your dog will eat, trust me. If not today, then tomorrow.
Answer by ladybug
I had the same problem with my male Pekingese when he got older he never did that when he was younger I just think he wanted me to be with him as he ate his food so I did he was an older dog so I just sat with him as he ate as long as he could see me he was ok. I did not care I would just be watching TV or doing laundry. My dogs now could care less if I'm in the room or not. My brother's Pit Bull is like that she will not eat if my brother is not in the room. Some dogs are just like that.
Answer by maria luz e martinez
My 3 yr old Rottweiler does the same thing. He barks and barks at me through the window until I come out. He’ll go to his bowl and start eating. I have to act like I’m watching the gate while he eats. I’ll tell him, “Okay, I’ll watch the gate while you eat”. He’ll even stop and look up at me to see if I’m watching the gate. I think he feels like his guard is down when he eats – so he needs someone to watch his back or watch the gate.
He doesn’t care if it’s my husband or me. I got this idea because I used to have a female Rottweiler named Girl that was training another female pup that we adopted named Xena. Xena would be sitting at the gate and Girl seemed to be taking a nap. As soon as Xena started dosing off, Girl would run towards the gate and bark at Xena as if she was scolding her.
Poor Xena would immediately straighten herself up because she got scolded. The girl would go back to her spot and make sure Xena was not falling asleep. Every time Xena started to lay down, Girl would run towards her and bark at her. Finally, I told Girl to leave Xena alone. Poor Xena. She was really lazy. She didn’t care much about guarding our house, but Girl was intense.
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Answer by -C-
My little terrier mix that I adopted does the same thing. I won't give in, though. Usually, I just put a couple of pieces of her food on the floor in front of the bowl and tell her to eat. If she doesn't, I go on about my business. Most of the time, she will come to sit with me, run in the kitchen and eat a bite or two, come back and sit with me, and repeat this several times until her food is gone. If I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, she will stay and eat until she is finished. If she doesn't eat, her food doesn't stay down. I give it to her in the morning. If I leave it down, my Lab will gobble it up.
I don't know what makes them do this, but, I won't play by their rules.
When I first got my Lab, he wouldn't go poo unless I told him he wasn't finished. He would run out to pee, then run back up the stairs. I'd have to say "You're not finished. Go potty" or he wouldn't! That only lasted a couple of weeks. Now, he does what he has to do before he comes back in.
After I knew he was housebroken, he would still bark around 3:30 – 4:30 every morning to go outside. I got up every single morning for about a month before I got tired of it. Now, neither one of my dogs makes a noise until they hear my alarm go off in the morning. It has a very distinctive sound. They don't even budge when my husband gets up to come to work at 3-4 a.m. They are smarter than we give them credit sometimes.
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BETTY J WEITZEL says
Our Little Gizmo, pomchi, will not eat unless you are watching him and paying attention to him eating. If you don’t he will pull your pant leg, whine and cry. How can you train him to not do this. I have tried different dishes to put his food in. Please help.
Doris says
Just don’t feed him until he gets really hungry :)
maria luz e martinez says
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Shαnnyn says
I also have a dog of almost seven years, she is little and we have the same problem. She doesn't eat if i am not in a room with her and especially if my mother isn't in the same room. My dog wanna eating in a room with me and my mom often. Sometimes when i am alone all day in home my dog doesn't eat nothing and drinks water so little or nothing. She is so sad because she misses my mother, but when the day becomes more longer or the day after my dog is going to be hungry and so she eates all. Then for your problem can also depends for the warm weather and so your dog doesn't eat. Anyway your dog can learn to eat without you, maybe if you are not at home all day and no other you live with if he is really very hungry he can eating alone. Also my dog when eats watch to me and she is happy if i watch to her, but this is wrong because she is not be used to eat without me often. Or without mom. She wanna me and my mom together and so when i am alone at home is more difficult that she eats when it is time of dinner and lunch.
fizzygurrl1980 says
Yeah, my dog does that too. They see us as their pack leaders, so they won't eat until they see it;s OK with us. My dog won't eat unless I'm in the kitchen with him, so I usualyl just lad the dishwasher or something while he eats. He will literally not eat for days if I don't watch him, and then he'll throw up from being hungry. What can I say? Dogs are weird.
disturbed says
I promise if he gets hungry enough and you dont watch him, he will eat. You are playing the game by his rules. Play by yours and see what happens.
**sammykins** says
um..thats too bad, but im not sure what you are asking and how to answer. sorry! if you add details stating ur question i will check back and answer it!!