My puppy Darragh is afraid of food bowls, plates etc. I have no problem getting him to drink out of any bowl but, at 11 weeks old, we have had him for 3 weeks and we have tried 5 or 6 different types of bowls and plates without much success. He paws food off the plate sometimes and prefers to eat off the floor. It isn't the food as he eats from my hand without any problem - but not going down that route! Any advice please?
Does his dog tag jangle on the bowls? If so try feeding with no collar. Otherwise, maybe feed off a mat on the floor?
Another idea, try feeding him in a completely different place? If he'll eat in a different place then try slowly move him to where you want to feed him? I'm guessing.
Do you use a clicker? A fun thing to do would be to get him to target the inside of a bowl with his nose. You can shape it, might take a while, but it'd would be good fun and likely to solve it in a way that would put no pressure on him.
I've always scatter fed Rory due to his early health problems. I use a large piece of fleece which can be washed. It slows his food intake right down and has helped with his health problem.I have reintroduced his food bowl for really messed food and hes fine with it now and is not so anxious about his food bowl. I've also hand fed him at really tricky times and it helped with his training
Hi, you could also put his food on a plastic tray which also helps with gulping food, if you want to you could then progress to plastic bowl as he gets older. Maybe he tipped his bowl over at sometime and gave himself a bit of a fright. x
You don't have to use a bowl at all. When Molly was Darragh's age she had to work for every mouthful, either in treat balls, Kongs etc. I was also hand feeding her vast amounts of kibble as part of the training process.
