Hello Forum, wondering if I can get some re-assurance. Cooper, 2-1/2 years old, has all of a sudden "decided" he does not want to eat breakfast. Most unusual since he always can't wait for me to put his bowl down!!! He has also decided he does not want to potty first thing in the morning. He does potty when we go for first walk in the morning. Has this happened to any of you at this age? His meals have been breakfast and dinner. Should I be worried about this or let Cooper make the decision of eating or not. I AM very concerned but he is my first dog so don't have experience to back me up! Thanks for any advice and have a great day!
With Tatze Not the food thing, but the potty thing. Tatze now saves all wees and poos until we go on our first walk. We go to bed at 10pm and sometimes the first walk isn't until 10am or later! Food wise I wouldn't worry, offer it, give him a few minutes, then pick it up and feed at the next meal. He won't come to any harm at all. Bruce, 10 months, refuses some meals - no idea why, but he doesn't refuse all meals and he's not skinny so there is no need for concern. ...
Argghhh! I was hoping this was a boy thing! I so do not want two dogs that won't wee and poo at home! I find it annoying on busy days to have to take Charlie out more than I want to in case he needs a poo!
I think with labs its good to split into two meals, This way you reduce the quantity of food at one sitting, as labs are prone to Bloat, and large meals can be one of the risk factors. I would go with Boogie's advice and just lift it after 30mins or so and feed next meal at normal time and give normal quantity
Paw Print...I can't imagine him being down to one meal.....normally he hoovers up his food. There has been a situation in the last two months where he was in "boarding school" for six weeks....I had my second total knee replacement and went from hospital to rehab and then home but couldn't have him around the house with me recuperating. He went to day care during the day and then the young woman at day care took him home at night....she has three dogs of her own so, basically, he had the best of ALL worlds....now he is back with me and is probably bored to death in comparison!!! Also, he was not sleeping in my bedroom when I left for surgery but the day care young woman had him sleeping with her in the bedroom!! So guess where he sleeps now!!!! YES, in my bedroom! Which is OK but because of knee pain I do toss and turn a lot and maybe am keeping him awake? Have no idea. Tatze, I am going to do that with the breakfast and offer it again at night....good idea. I just feel so bad that he does not have something in his tummy in the morning.....but will do what you suggest. Boogie....the potty thing drives me crazy....I know he HAS to go....how can he not when it's been over 12 hours.....but how can you make them go??? There is no way. Jacqui and Lilly...I also like the two meals....bloat is an awful thing. He DOES gobble up his dinner, though. A friend keeps telling me that doggies medicate themselves.....so if they are not hungry, they do not eat...if they dont need to potty it's no big deal for them!! Guess it's us humans that worry about them, though. As to the sleeping arrangement....think I'm going to try to get him back to sleeping on his sofa in the family room and see if it is me that is keeping him awake and thus changing his eating habits. Thanks for all your answers.....I just love this Website and Forum.....we get answers to everything but we all have gone through one thing or another with our pups....we are lucky to have it.
The answer is to get a good wee on command. I didn't know how to train this with Tatze and it's too late now, but with all three pups I had a good, consistent wee on command - no problems, they would squeeze a little out if they didn't need to go. Bruce is the same ...
Of course, poo on command is harder as we need to be sure they need one. But it can be done, if started young enough ..
Even wee on command.....how do you do that?Cooper just sits out on the deck and watches the squirrels (or whatever he sees up in the trees) go by but will NOT go onto his grassy area. Would love to know how you trained yours to pee on command!!! Would save me hours of waiting and then giving up!!
MY boys, 10 and 4, would not pee or poo in the garden, then suddenly out of the blue, they have started doing it, so there is hope in the future.
My Malamute and our 2nd Lab, Tilly were both free feeders. I would put the food down and they would eat it when they felt like it. I don't think is is a problem, unless Cooper really does not eat about the right amount of food most days. Doesn't have to exact and missing meal once in a while is normal for some dogs. Tilly has had to learn to eat her food when it is put down, because our giant lab pup (also Cooper) will eat her food if she leaves it very long.
Do any of you think that maybe Cooper is not eating his breakfast is because it is soooo hot here? I am trying to figure this out.....he eats his dinner OK and my house is air conditioned but the day care he goes to every day is not. If he was home all day I wouldn't worry but have to take him to day care early morning. Maybe I should take food to day care and have them give it to him at lunchtime?
Provided he's not losing weight / underweight I wouldn't worry about one meal a day. Some years ago in the UK it was traditional to only feed adult dogs one meal a day
Thanks, Joy. I was actually wondering if Cooper himself is cutting down to one meal a day. He is almost 2-1/2 years old....weighs 96.4 pounds so is certainly not underweight....if anything he could lose a few pounds! Guess I worry too much....want him to be healthy and happy. I am hoping to keep him home most days starting mid-September when I should be able to walk him and exercise him myself. I have had two knee surgeries in three months so have sort of been incapacitated!! But should be almost 100% by then.
Since Cooper is eating dinner, not sure if this applies, but for the last few weeks Quinn was not very interested in her meals...especially dinner. She would eventually wander over and eat, leaving some in the bowl, which was unusual. We were wondering if she was bored of her food. However, once we finished that bag of food and opened a new one, she was back to her old self - crying for meals, eating all meals right up. Could it be something with the food and by dinner he is so hungry he's eating again?
Ashley, I thought about the food.....it's bin in a huge plastic bin that's on rollers but it could be that it's not as fresh as coming right out of the bag. Will go right now and buy another bag and see if he does the same as Quinn. I would rather toss the food than have him go without a meal. He has NEVER not eaten his meals....that's for sure. Will let you know what happens with the new bag!!! Thanks.
Funny, Quinn's food is in the same plastic bin with rolling wheels! I was thinking maybe it had something to do with that - the plastic scent/smell. Her food bag recommends to never put directly into another container, so am trying to buy the smaller bag that fits inside the container now.
I went to my usual Pet store to buy a new bag of Fromm BUT they closed their business yesterday!! Last time I was there in June I bought two bags of 33 pounds each. Owners are retiring....surprise,surprise. I went to a Pet Smart and bought a small 22 pound bag of Blue Buffalo, no grain, duck being the #1 ingredient. They do not carry Fromm. Just brought Cooper home from day care and he ate a cup of this in 10 seconds. Will have to order Fromm on-line, which is fine, but didn't want to give Cooper any of the "other" today. Maybe it being in the bin since end of June could have made it go bad. Now that you have told me about the recommendation of not putting it into the bin,I will make sure the food stays in the bag and then into the container. Thanks for the tip and let's hope it was the food and not that he is not feeling well.
Quinn is on Fromm too - I read on their website about not taking it out of the bag: https://frommfamily.com/about/quest...ng-and-storage/storing-dog-food-and-cat-food/ Hopefully it was just that the food wasn't tasting as good to him! And actually, OH poured our new bag into the bin on the weekend so I will have to go reverse that asap!
