Doublet Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hi, I have a Border Collie who has just turned 1 year old, i seem to be having trouble feeding him, it seems like hes not interested in his food unless i hand feed him or put it on the floor. i try and encourage him to eat from his bowl and he puts his nose into my hand and licks it as if to say, daddy you feed me... ive changed his food to see if that would help and although its better he still doesnt "wolf" it down . he gets plenty of excersise and is highly active, he looks and acts very healthy , but i think he feels a little underweight as i can feel his rib cage quite easily. hes been wormed recently and i have kept this up reguarly. he weighed between 21 and 22 kg for 2-3 months now, and im still expecting him to be growing or filling out for another 6 months. i hope someone can help with this as im starting to get a little concerned about this. Thanks Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea4th Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hmmm. The little bugger has your number. If all is otherwise well, as in the dog is healthy, stop obsessing. Decide on the times which will be meal time for the dog and stick to them. By "stick to them", I mean, put the food down for the dog and walk away. Give him a reasonable amount of time to eat. If, in 20 minutes, he is not done. Tough. Pick it up and put it away and he gets NOTHING, until next meal time. I find that feeding them in a crate forces them to concentrate on their food and it's easier for you to just walk away and do something else for the 20 minutes allotted to him. He'll get the idea eventually. And don't worry, he's not going to starve himself. It's harder on the human than it is the dog, so steel yourself for some tough love. By establishing good eating habits, you're doing him a favor. Until he eats what is put in front of him, no treats. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doublet Posted December 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hmmm. The little bugger has your number. If all is otherwise well, as in the dog is healthy, stop obsessing. Decide on the times which will be meal time for the dog and stick to them. By "stick to them", I mean, put the food down for the dog and walk away. Give him a reasonable amount of time to eat. If, in 20 minutes, he is not done. Tough. Pick it up and put it away and he gets NOTHING, until next meal time. I find that feeding them in a crate forces them to concentrate on their food and it's easier for you to just walk away and do something else for the 20 minutes allotted to him. He'll get the idea eventually. And don't worry, he's not going to starve himself. It's harder on the human than it is the dog, so steel yourself for some tough love. By establishing good eating habits, you're doing him a favor. Until he eats what is put in front of him, no treats. Good luck. thats funny, my wife said something along those lines, ive been free feeding him, so from now on ill give dedicated feeding times and just leave it down for like you said 20 minutes. i guess he will soon eat it when hes hungry thanks for your advice Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 I agree it sounds like he has your number. Find a food and leave it down for 20 minutes and then take it up. I feed twice a day so I do this in the a.m. and p.m. My dogs snarf their food like they have never been fed before. It could also be if the dog has a collar with tags the tags could be hitting the bowl and that makes the dog not want to eat from a bowl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 You'll get no better advise from me than what sea4th and 2 devils have said. Thats how its done. Soon enough she'll figure it out, and eat when she's fed, and then you'll both then be the wiser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doublet Posted December 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 he's always been free fed so i guess im going to have to change that then. im going to start it today, ill let you know how i get on. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat's Dogs Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 I agree with all the others. Unless something really is wrong, he will learn to eat when food is down if you use a schedule like the above posters suggested. Feeding on a schedule really has a lot of bonuses and I highly recommend continuing doing so even once he starts eating from the dish. I would also consider what Kim said, about possibly the tags hitting the dish. I have a dog that forever wouldn't drink out of a bowl but it was just because her collar tags would hit the side and make a clanking sound that she was scared of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 He's at an awkward age to be battling this, too. Many Border Collie males, especially intact males, go through a "food strike" phase during adolescence. One key is to use more calorie-dense food so that the dog gets more out of what he actually bothers to eat. Some of the grain frees like EVO, Orijen, Nature's Variety Instinct, and Wellness Core are very nutrient dense. The price is scary but if you figure out how many calories you get for the dollar, it comes out very comparable to something like Pedigree or Purina One. Bil-Jac is another food that will put weight on a dog very fast, and it's really palatable. I also agree that free feeding is not a good idea. As long as the food is freely available to him, he's in charge. Then, he can even get you to bring him food in your hand! That's what the lower pack members do - they catch something and then bring the best parts to the top dog/wolf. Good luck! It's a difficult problem once the pattern is set up, but time will eventually fix this one if nothing else will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 Don't be surprised if he goes a long time without eating. My teenage male BC went a week without touching his food. After that if he was hungry he ate right away. The teenage males I have now eat right away, but I feed them next to each other so I think the competition factor has something to do with it. My 33 lb intact bitch eats 1 cup of Evo a day when she isn't working, about 2 cups a day when she is working very hard. Her growing teenage sons (also about 30 lbs) eat 1.5 cups a day. They are doing light training right now. I would have to feed them at least twice as much of the cheap stuff, which means that it doesn't cost much more to feed them the good stuff as the cheap junk you get at grocery stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.