Puppy strange eating habit developing quickly

[carmspack]

what did I say? "
Originally Posted by MDPatterson
Carm suggested it would never work at all. Under any circumstance it would seem"

" but we've pulled the bowl away mid meal and just held it and looked at him. He just looks back and after a second sits, like he's waiting patiently and calmly to be fed again. Any thoughts to that? "

Here is my thought on that -- STOP DOING THIS - why tease the dog . This is like some mind bending break you down till you talk , make the subject go mental , insane -----.

[MDPatterson]

""if thats the case, we gotta fix that asap." -- noooo , don't micromanage , don't go around fixing things -- you're going to sit at this table , young man , until you finish every last bit of that spinach ala liver jelly mould -- yeah like that ever worked.
Put the food down . Go away. Leave dog. If dog is hungry , dog will eat . "

[carmspack]

not sure how your comment ties in to what I said ?

oh well - figure it out before the situation mushrooms into other weird behaviour , question the trainers credentials and track record -- go elsewhere , join a club , join an obedience club , and by the way have you communicated with the breeder , asked them, had a discussion on your methods , asked them for a trainer recommendation?

[msvette2u]

but we've pulled the bowl away mid meal and just held it and looked at him. He just looks back and after a second sits, like he's waiting patiently and calmly to be fed again. Any thoughts to that? Or do you still have an argument against our method?

Yes. He's too young mentally and physically to challenge you right now; this is a good example of how things seem good, or seem as if it's working, for now, but can backfire when the dog is older/bigger.

This is entirely why it's "simple" with puppies but once a problem is created, it's difficult to eradicate.

We never take our dog's bowls. Ever. Why would we? It's their food!
Just as if you were given a steak dinner and every so often the waiter came by the table and yanked it away, you'd be stunned/surprised, then soon would become grouchy at the waiter!

As a result of us not taking our dog's bowls, we can walk by them all the time and they don't guard, because we've never given them a reason to guard.

What you are saying, and doing, is very common to new dog owners, and 9x out of 10 will backfire on the owner at some point, despite that it "makes sense" right now.

[MDPatterson]

Good argument msvette, we'll adjust. I'm glad I can gain from your experience. For those that promote positive reinforcement heavily, it often seems they don't retain the same logic when talking to people. It would seem that courteous corrections and staying on level with people works better than attempting to be demeaning. To those that do like scolding other people through computers and feel like they understand dogs more than most or even more than humans.....would your dog respond well to yelling and anger? Or would be better off through positive reinforcement?

As a beginner who can admit a beginner status with no shame and take all the criticism out there, I would like to communicate to all who've given advice...Thank you. I look forward to coming back and even asking the most mundane questions that most experienced trainers would find boring.

[Sunflowers]

What the trainer did was just plain silly, and your gut told you so. Listen to your gut. If it says you see something nonsensical, then it more than likely is.

The owner already has control of the food. Have the dog sit, make eye contact, wait for a release word before he can eat, and that is enough to make him do to understand that it is your food and you are letting him have it because he worked for it.

I have kids so having a dog who would not be food aggressive was very important to me. All of us have, at times, gone over to him when he is almost finished eating, and added something really great. Now when we approach as he eats, he wags his tail.

Simply thinking like an animal can give you ideas on how to establish trust. It doesn't have to be so complicated.

Going back to your first question about not eating, well, it could be that the BB is not making him feel very good. I have heard people having problems with it being too rich for GSDs. They tend to have sensitive stomachs and a food they have been eating for a while with no apparent problem can, with time, start to bother their gut. This happened to me, and I had to change what I was doing, and I was, and am, feeding raw.

You just have to find what the dog enjoys eating and does well on. Look into a different food. If a puppy isn't eating there is a good reason.

[msvette2u]

I love to visit with people open to learning.
We don't know it all, and all have room to learn.
I'm glad others can take away useful things from my posts, when they do, and I only speak from experience with our own dogs and some 150 or more fosters we take in and rehome every year

[MDPatterson]

Thank you sunflowers, I will try it out! All of these really speaks to switching to raw, but there's a lot of research I have to do before tackling that monster.

Look forward to learning more msvette