strange behavior category

[mavornin]

Dagmar, my Great Dane, one and a half yrs old, is the strangest dog I have ever owned. We have a problem though. She refuses to eat. We have followed every piece of advice and still have the problem. By the end of the day she will have eaten from nothing to 5 cans and maybe one cup of dry. We have tried every brand available and even served her healthy people food, like cooked chicken & veggies, etc. We are now hand feeding her and the only brand she will try to eat is Eagle Pack. She is a wonderful dog, 45" tall, 80 lbs, very active, very sweet, and the vet says to just do what she wants to make her eat. Needless to say, she is quite spoiled. Anyone have this problem? Any answers?

[micki76]

I used to have this problem. Then one day I decided that if Chester got hungry, he'd eat. I stopped hand feeding and trying different foods and lo and behold, 4 days later I caught him eating. Since that day he has been eating fine. It doesn't really matter to me anymore if he doesn’t eat on Tuesday, because he'll eat on Wednesday.

We do use a food cube that's filled with kibble and he rolls that around rather than eating from the bowl most of the time.

As long as he's healthy, my advice is to stop making a big deal out of it. He will eat (unless he has an medical condition and your vet should have detected it if he does).

There are medical conditions also that can be damaged by enticement feeding, like Pancreatitis.

[binka_nugget]

Did your vet do any testing to rule out any medical problems?

If it's plain pickyness, I'd do what micki did. Kai and Kaedyn are very picky but I don't have the time to hand feed them both twice a day. If they're hungry, they'll eat eventually.

[countrycowgirl]

when i first got my rat terrier he would do that. i think part of it was that he was a very active dog and didn't know that he was hungry. but i knew if he was hungry he would eat sooner or later i just had to keep food in front of him. i did that and changed food till i got him a kind he liked and he's ate ever since

[Karen]

I agree with the others. If the vet doesn't think she's dangerously underweight, I'd follow micki76's suggestion.

She's ruling the roost, and now it's your turn. Check with the vet, of course, but as a Dane at that age, she's still kind of a teenager, testing the limits.

[Twisterdog]

If your vet says she is healthy and has no medical conditions....


Put the food YOU want her to eat in a bowl on the floor. Walk away. Period.

She may not eat for a day, or two or three. That's ok. She WILL eat. Dogs are NOT suicidal. After she realizes that you are smarter than she is, and you are not giving in, she will eat. They all do. ALL of them ... yours will, too.

[wolfsoul]

I'd also like to know if you've taken her to the vet and ruled out problems.

Sometimes a dog can be a picky eater. I'd try always giving her scheduled feeding. Leave her bowl of food for half an hour, and whether she touches it or not, put it up when half an hour is over. Do the same thing the next day. She will soon realize that food is not always in reach for her to eat when she pleases.

[lv4dogs]

I would make sure the vet has ruled out all & any medical problems, maybe even a second opinion if you feel there is something more to it.

If all medical possibilities are ruled out than dogs like you described are ussually either picky eaters or they train their owners to spoil them. If you can tell the difference then thats great. But either way one of the foloowing suggestions should work. If she is just plain picky then find a food she loves and just leave it out for her, when she gets hungry she will eat. If she has you trained to feed her & spoil her like that then I would put her food down for 20-30 minutes & then take it up no matter is she has eaten or not. because she is such a large dog then I would do this maybe 4 times a day, once she starts eating then knock it down to 3 times a day.

Also by feeding her ONLY her dog food, that means no treats, just give her her dog food as treats may help. but not too ften that she is still being hand fed. Make her do a command before giving her any treats.

if you think she is just spoiled then I would personally just place the treats on the floor instead of directly in her mouth.

good luck, & oh nay pics? I love danes!

[lv4dogs]

if she is really spoiled (okay we all know our pets are spoiled) but there is a limit I think, & if they are too spoiled it may cause other problems in the future as well, so i suggest the "nothing for free" method. You make you dog obay a command before it gets ANYTHING! if she want to be petted you make her sit, if she has to go out to potty you make her lay down, make her shake paws before feeding her, it does not matter the command just as long as she works for whatever it is she wants. And enrolling in an obedienc class will certainly help in many aspects!

maybe by slightly increasing her excersize will up her hunger.

[mavornin]

I want to thank all of you for the posts. You all know what you are talking about, that's for sure. Here is an update and answers to your questions.
Dagmar has been checked by her usual vet, as well as two other vets. No medical problems, healthy, but thin, spayed at 3 months old.
The vets suggested: (1) hand feed, do whatever it takes to make sure she eats, (2) set food down, limit the time she has to eat then pick up the food, and do that three times a day, (3) don't worry about it, she will eat when she needs to. In the past, she has had vitamins, appetite enhancers, enzymes, etc. We exercize her with daily walks as well as play times.
She has been through obedience training, she is not food oriented so she wasn't interested in the training. She spit out the treats she was given. We worked with her at home and when she graduated she did everything she was asked to do, and did it well. Yes, she is still in the teenage times of her life.
She has doubled the amounts she is eating this week, still picky but getting better. It is a daily thing but we think it is good. I hope to send pics as soon as I figure out how....Thanks again!