My puppy wont let me leave.

[WhiteWolfBeauty]

No matter how hungry she is, if I try and walk away from my 10 week old german shepherd puppy she follows me. I have to walk back and redirect her to eat.

What is the cause of this and how can I correct it? It's not really bothering me too much, but I don't want to be teaching her the wrong things.

[1sttimeforgsd]

They like to be where-ever you are so if you leave the room they will follow sometimes. Ace is usually the last one to finish eating and if I leave the room to go read the paper he will stop eating and follow me to the other room. Usually I have to go into the kitchen and stay till he finishes or one of the other dogs will eat his food for him. I don't know if this is right or wrong but that is what mine does.

[GatorDog]

Aiden was the same way when he ate kibble. He had some very bizarre eating habits and I would literally have to sit on the floor tapping my finger on the dish to get him to eat. I tried the whole "picking up food after x amount of minutes" thing, but that only resulted in him not eating for close to three days. I switched him to raw two weeks ago and haven't had to remind him it's dinner time since! =P
In your situation, I would maybe try leaving it out for 10 minutes or so, then picking up what she doesn't eat. Then she may learn that meal time is the time to eat and if you don't then you'll miss out. Other than that, I might try crating her with her food until she finishes.

Good luck! I know how frustrating meal times can get.

[Wolfiesmom]

Wolfie does the same thing. One of us usually has to sit in the same room with him for him to eat. Sometimes, if we are all out on the screened porch, I bring the food with me and he eats there.

[Marnie]

Cut the pup some slack, it is only 10 weeks old. That's really young to expect a pup to have much independence. At that age they want to be glued to your ankle. It hasn't had time to adjust to loosing its mom and litter mates. Stay in the room with it and let it eat.

Puppies are hard! They are a lot of work and will require a lot of your time. My advice, get used to it now, it will only get worse. If you cut corners now you will regret it later.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Why don't you just wait until she's done to walk away?

[WhiteWolfBeauty]

There is no need to get on my case.

I was only asking because I didn't know if this was dominant behavior or if I was encouraging the wrong thing by staying near her while she ate.

I am staying by her while she eats.

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by WhiteWolfBeauty

There is no need to get on my case.

I was only asking because I didn't know if this was dominant behavior or if I was encouraging the wrong thing by staying near her while she ate.

I am staying by her while she eats.

This will probably continue most, if not all, of her life.
My dogs ( I had one at a time) follow(ed) me everywhere. I have a 4 season enclosed breezeway that I put her in if I don't want to be bothered. But she usually only eats if I am present. Current dog is 2.
She is attached to you, enjoy it.

[JKlatsky]

Puppies want to be where the action is and are often used to free feeding instead of scheduled feeding. I always fed mine in their crates and that helped because if nothing was going on, they'd settle down to eat. I'd leave them with their food for 15 minutes and whatever they didn't eat got taken up until the next meal time.

[WhiteWolfBeauty]

I would free feed her but she is in the process of being de-wormed at the moment and I cannot afford unpredictable bowel movements (which can lead to messes inside!) because I have small children.

So she is on a strict schedule until I know she is worm free and no longer shedding eggs.