The Corgi Who Wouldn't Eat
I have an 8.5 month old pembroke and she just won't eat. We were feeding her nutro max, which I found out wasn't such a good dog food. So, I went on to dog food analysis to find something better.
I switched her to Orijen adult formula, since she should be about old enough for adult food. She hated it. She took one look at the bowl and one look at me and walked away.
From Orijen we put her on what we have for her new; Blue Buffalo Wilderness, wild duck formula. When we brought it home she flipped out over it. She was eating it kibble by kibble, taking each piece under the coffee table to eat like some kind of a rare treat.
I was excited. Thank God, something my dog would eat. But when I made her a bowl this morning she wouldn't touch it. The odd thing is that she ate it slowly over the course of an hour after I left the room.
I don't know, I'm puzzled. I have two theories and neither of them have to do with food. First, we dog sat our friend's 3 year old shih tzu who basically hates everything and is afraid of everything, including Roxy and all other dogs especially. Naturally, the minute he got here, all she wanted to do was play with him, but he wasn't having any of it. He also likes to graze, which left Roxy with ample time to eat his food for him. I had to correct her multiple times and by the end of the week she was finally getting it. I'm worried that I somehow trained her to think that eating food is bad by trying to get her to stay away from his food.
My other theory is that I may have inadvertently traumatized her. She was eating one day and I was lifting something really heavy. I dropped it on my foot and screamed in her general direction and she actually cowered and peed a little and hid in the broom closet. I know I didn't really do anything on purpose to hurt her, but I can't help but feel bad that I scared the life out of her. I hope she didn't associate the negative event with eating.
Before this, she had to be restrained from eating. She literally learned how to open doors to get at her food. I'm fairly certain this is a psychological thing. I went through all of the obedience classes that are designed to get her to obey me, but all of those dealt with her not being afraid. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I've never heard of a Corgi who wouldn't eat!
I switched her to Orijen adult formula, since she should be about old enough for adult food. She hated it. She took one look at the bowl and one look at me and walked away.
From Orijen we put her on what we have for her new; Blue Buffalo Wilderness, wild duck formula. When we brought it home she flipped out over it. She was eating it kibble by kibble, taking each piece under the coffee table to eat like some kind of a rare treat.
I was excited. Thank God, something my dog would eat. But when I made her a bowl this morning she wouldn't touch it. The odd thing is that she ate it slowly over the course of an hour after I left the room.
I don't know, I'm puzzled. I have two theories and neither of them have to do with food. First, we dog sat our friend's 3 year old shih tzu who basically hates everything and is afraid of everything, including Roxy and all other dogs especially. Naturally, the minute he got here, all she wanted to do was play with him, but he wasn't having any of it. He also likes to graze, which left Roxy with ample time to eat his food for him. I had to correct her multiple times and by the end of the week she was finally getting it. I'm worried that I somehow trained her to think that eating food is bad by trying to get her to stay away from his food.
My other theory is that I may have inadvertently traumatized her. She was eating one day and I was lifting something really heavy. I dropped it on my foot and screamed in her general direction and she actually cowered and peed a little and hid in the broom closet. I know I didn't really do anything on purpose to hurt her, but I can't help but feel bad that I scared the life out of her. I hope she didn't associate the negative event with eating.
Before this, she had to be restrained from eating. She literally learned how to open doors to get at her food. I'm fairly certain this is a psychological thing. I went through all of the obedience classes that are designed to get her to obey me, but all of those dealt with her not being afraid. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I've never heard of a Corgi who wouldn't eat!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I would pick one food and stick with it. Do you have other dogs? If she just nibbles all day I would leave it out or as others have said pick it up after 1/2 hour. Now mine all eat as soon as they are given food but I also would not encourage them gulping the food! I have some dogs that take the food out a few bits at a time put it on the floor and eat it. I think dogs can be like people and have different likings as to their speed. I for one LOVE food and would rather not eat if I was rushed but would rather wait till I can enjoy my food! Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by MagnoliaFly on
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As a side-note - a healthy dog will not starve itself. Give her 10-15 minutes to eat and if she doesn't eat it, she'll get another chance at the next mealtime. Dogs learn quickly that the food will not always be there and they need to eat when the opportunity is presented since they don't know when their next meal might come. This is how it is in the wild.
It isn't unusual for dogs in the wild to go without food for several days before eating again so if she doesn't eat an entire day it isn't going to hurt her. Some veterinarians even suggest to fast the dog whenever digestive issues happen (especially holistic vets) up to 7 days so one day of no food isn't going to kill her.
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Permalink Reply by Samwise Roxy and Mom on
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I started treating her kibble like treats for when I make her do commands and that has helped a bit. But, I think I'll have to go back to making her get the idea that her food won't always be there whenever she feels like eating. I've heard that wolves in the wild can go 3 weeks without food completely unfettered, but I didn't know this was true of dogs in general.
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Permalink Reply by Albert, Ava and J.J. on
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My 10 month old corgi (JJ) started the no eating thing this weekend with his dry food. He would watch my older one (Ava) eats, looks at his food, looks at me and walk away. The hand feeding didn't even work, he would just smell it and walk away. I can't leave the bowl down because after the Ava finished, she would come over to his bowl and wanting to eat his food. I did the pick up the bowl for 1 1/2 days and still can't get him to. I know that JJ was not sick because he still had a lot of energy running around and play wrestling with Ava. By accident, I left JJ bowl down too long and Ava wandered over and started to eat out of JJ bowl. JJ saw it and went to his bowl immediately. I had to push Ava away, because she is the dominant one and she growled at JJ to tell him that she had claimed his food. After I pushed Ava away, JJ started to eat. So for the past 2 days, this is how I got JJ to eat. I didn't want to try to add other things to his food to entice him to eat. I was afraid that once I start, he may want to have it his way all the when it comes to feeding.
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