Hi all, My 8 month old Snuffles recently started Growling at her food dish when we give it to her. She also barks at it and whines a little bit as well. She doesn't appear to be in pain, so were stumped. Does anyone have any ideas?
Is she eating the food in it? Have you changed her dish recently? Have you tried feeding her in a different spot?
Sounds a bit like excitement, mealtimes can be quite arousing for puppies. It is after all the BEST time of the day! Is she like this with anything else, toys for example? Make sure though, you just leave her alone at mealtimes, don't interact or try to train her at this point, it does look like she needs some peace and quiet, particularly if mealtimes are so exciting for her. You might want to consider an alternative way of feeding meals if you think she is a wee bit too disturbed, for example a snuffle mat, slo feeder or scatter her kibble in a tray, or on the floor.
To answer the above questions. She is eating her food, but she's never really been one of those dogs that eats anything in front of her. Since we've gotten her she rarely finishes. And nothing has changed lately, same dish, same food, same spot, etc. That's why it just seems wierd. Also I doubt it's excitement since she's never very excited by her food. She usually ignores her food for a while before grudgingly eating some of it. We do feeding time by bringing her food out, making her aware, then giving her an hour to eat (usually slowly and intermittently).
Are you sure it's growling and not more of a noise coming from her throat? Some dogs make a noise that sounds like growling, but is actually a bit more like purring. My boy does it when you scratch his ears - it's a happy noise, not a growl with a stiff body and raised lip. Maybe you could video it so we can see!
Homer prances about, play bows, barks and growls when I give him a raw chicken wing or a bone from the butchers.
Well that puts a different slant on things and I would class this maybe as "different/and or new behaviour". In these cases I take a trip to the vet, just to check everything is OK. It's probably is nothing, but worth the vet having a quick look. Is she chewing/eating normally? Tugging toys, playing?
Thanks for the tough everyone, I'll talk to the vet about it soon. She seems completely normal otherwise so it may just be a new mannerism similar to what Jes72 described.
