Feeding question

[astankovic]

Hi,

My wife and I have an almost 4 months old male puppy named Thomas. And since he is a first pet since the ones we had as kids (for both of us), we have tons of questions on how to properly train him.

I’ve already posted a question about toilet raining and got great answers. Now we need somebody else’s about feeding him.

Here is the scenario: we feed him twice a day around 7am and 5:30pm. But every time we give him food he only takes few bites and then continues to follow us around the house. The only way we can have him eat the whole portion is if one of us stays near him while he eats.

So we are thinking, if we stay with him while he eats we might cause him to develop a habit, and then we always need to be with him while he eats (my wife’s childhood dog had that habit and she says it was a pain.) We can leave the food out until he eats it, but we don’t think that’s good because he is still eating it by the time it is dinnertime.
I’m thinking to try leaving food out for, lets say, 20 minutes and if he chooses to follow us around instead of eating he will learn after few times that the food is gone so he better stay and eat while it’s there.

What should we do?

PS. I should mention that we had him for only a week now.

Thanks a lot,
Alex                    

[Anita]

Alex

Other people may have different views but I would go with the leaving the food down for 20 minutes or so and then removing it. I think the following around will get better as he's only been with you for a week.

You could try sitting in another room but lean around the door so Thomas can see you and his food. It may just be a security thing.

Phoebe is now 1 and I tend to stay close by so I can praise her for being good and finishing her dinner.

I think you need to persevre with what you want to achieve in the long run otherwise it will take twice as long.

HTH                    

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

Hi!!  Alex   Thomas might be feeling a little insecure,

  as youve only had him for a week. But i,m sure as time

 goes on he will improve.                    

[Jane S]

Agree with the others, you need to give Thomas time to settle in with you. I would go with putting the food down & removing it if not eaten within 15-20 mins. You could try reducing the amount you're offering him for a while too- sometimes a big bowl of food can be offputting for a puppy in a new home. I would split his food into 3 small meals a day - I don't usually reduce our pups down to 2 meals a day until they are 5-6 months old but see how Thomas goes in another week or so.                    

[Sophie]

I agree with jane, smaller meals spread out over the day may be less intimidating for your puppy.  We didn't reduce to 2 meals until sophie was 5 months.  Our two new puppies both 10 weeks are getting 4 meals a day and are feeding fine.                    

[astankovic]

Thanks for your tips. He is doing better now. He finishes his food when given and if there is something left over we take it away. He should be going to a vet in a week or so, so then we will se how is his weight doing. Last time we took him he was 15lbs (3 weeks ago)

Alex