Food Issues

[Sophie]

Sophie came to us with some issues with food - we've overcome some of them, but I'm struggling with a few, and am looking for any suggestions that might help.

 

Sophie is a skinny lurcher (thin but not too thin) - she's 21" tall and weighs in at 10.5-11 kg.

 

When she came to us (a year and a bit ago) she would not take treats/food from anyone - she seemed to have had it fairly deeply ingrained that the only place she eats from is her food bowl. After about a month, she started taking treats inside the house, and after another couple of months she would take treats outside of the house, if Morse and Smudge had one first. She will now take treats from a select few people that she knows very well. If anyone else tries to offer she refuses, and if they repeat the offer she panics a bit and backs right away.

 

In the house, she will panic if she is offered food off a plate. She runs away to a corner, and tries to hide. Simple solution is to not give her food off a plate, but if she sees us putting left overs from our plate into her bowl, she will then not eat the food in her bowl. It also leads to a few days of being unsure about eating.

 

She also panics if she is given a treat she thinks she shouldn't have. She will try to bury it in her bed, then hides away and is very unsure about it.

 

All of these things are manageable - don't give her special treats or left overs, she doesn't have to have treats outside, etc. However, I hate seeing her get so worried and panicy if she thinks she has something she shouldn't, so I want to try and get her over her fear so that food can be come something enjoyable. Any suggestions on what I can do?

[Kerrio]

Boots was a bit like this when we got him. You could not give him a chocolate digestive.

 

He'd steal one right enough, but would not take one off you.

 

The only thing I can think of is finding something she really really likes, like liver or bacon bits, and try with those.

 

Will she eat from her bowl if you hold it?

[Muriel]

Bach Flower Remedies. Brilliant for fears, worries etc, they just gently release the fears, and better still no side effects, and even if the wrong remedy is chosen, no harm is done as it just bounces off the system harmlessly.

 

I'd try Star of Bethlehem for trauma, Rock Rose for terror, Mimulus for all known fears, Aspen for general anxiety and Walnut for change. 4 drops of each 4 times daily and see how she is when the bottles are done. She may need more, she may not. From chemist/health food stores.

[dlmckay]

This could be very simple... teach her a command to take the treat.

 

I use TAKE IT for my dogs as I didnt' want them to snatch food from my kids (who are at dog mouth height and forever running around with biscuits and goodness knows what else ). I can offer the treat, all my body language saying that they could take the treat, but they will not until hearing TAKE IT.

 

If you used this command with the people she will readily take the treats from and consistently use this word to mean "you may have this, it's ok". Use it for her dinner too - her regular dinner (not the scraps that she worries about). Put the dinner down as normal, have the dogs all wait and then say TAKE IT to release them to eat. Then you can start getting other people to use the command too and she'll start to build a black and white picture of "I can take this food offered to me if I hear TAKE IT".

 

I would imagine that a lot of her fears are to do with insecurity of whether she can or cannot take the food

 

HTH

[Sophie]

Thanks guys.

 

Muriel - we have some Star of Bethlehem, and I'll pick up the others asap. My only problem is getting her to take them, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

 

She does know both leave it and take it, and is great with them in a training situation (small bits of food, clicker, etc). As soon as it is less formal, she reverts to being worried. I will keep trying with it though - thanks for the advice.