Poodle eating habits

[bamster]

Our toy poodle, Butchie, insists on eating his food on one of us. Worse than that, he must have his dish either on a chair, the couch, or the bed. He will not eat until one of us is sitting with him, at which time he will take a bite of food, then stand on us, and eat. Why? All attempts to break this have resulted in him barking at us for hours, and if that fails, he waits till we're asleep and then pees on the bed! He refuses all human food, and will only eat kibble or Ol Roy dinner rounds. Why did the dish end up on the bed to begin with? Butchie spent the first few years of his life tied up in an alley in Soeul, South Korea. We think he may have had to fight off the rats for any scraps of food his first family fed to him. He was then adopted by my brother and his family. For several years he seemed to have a great "dog's life". When my brother and his first wife started having marital issues Butchie developed alopecia and lost most of his hair. After several years he and my brother moved to U. S. and into my home. He quickly settled in and his hair grew back to normal. At that time he still took food from the dish on the floor, but insisted on chewing it over the nearest shoe or purse. My brother moved nearby and could not have a full time pet - so Butchie stayed with me. For about a year he would only eat Milk Bones, unless my brother visited or Butchie visited him. One night, in desperation to get him to eat, I sat on the edge of the bed with the dish, trying to coax him to eat. It worked, and I was so happy that I didn't realize until it was too late, what a terrible habit I allowed him to develop. Now my brother and new sister-in-law are staying with me till they purchase a house - Butchie is thrilled, but we're all held hostage by this spoiled 13 year old poodle and his strange eating habits! Our main question is, Is there an instinct of some sort that is driving him to eat like this? Secondary question is, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to gently break this habit?

[IRescue452]

This is a problem that you are fostering. Your dog is the alpha when it comes to food and he is actively shaping your behavior. Put your dogs food in the dish and set it one the floor in front of him where YOU want him to eat. Give him twenty minutes and take to food away. Do this maybe three times a day even if he doesnt eat it. Sounds cruel but a dog won't starve himself. Eventually he will develope an eating pattern that you decide on and he will also gain trust that the food will be put down at this time every day and he will be able to eat without fight for his food. This is actually one of the most common behavior problems that dogs develope and I have never seen this method of fixing it fail.

[micki76]

Originally posted by IRescue452
This is a problem that you are fostering. Your dog is the alpha when it comes to food and he is actively shaping your behavior. Put your dogs food in the dish and set it one the floor in front of him where YOU want him to eat. Give him twenty minutes and take to food away. Do this maybe three times a day even if he doesnt eat it. Sounds cruel but a dog won't starve himself. Eventually he will develope an eating pattern that you decide on and he will also gain trust that the food will be put down at this time every day and he will be able to eat without fight for his food. This is actually one of the most common behavior problems that dogs develope and I have never seen this method of fixing it fail.

Ditto, that! Dogs are not stupid, they will eat.