Won't eat from his bowl...

[Lorraine & Amos]

My 13 week old GD has a stainless steel bowl for his food and a larger one for his water.  He drinks from the water bowl just fine. But alot of times, he won't eat the food from his food bowl. But he eats it just fine out of my hand.  At first I thought he didn't like the sound of his tag hitting the bowl, but he drinks from his water bowl just fine. The water bowl is bigger because it seems like he drinks more than he eats, so then I switched to a larger food bowl, but same thing. Strange. Any ideas as to why he could be doing this?

Thanks!!!

[Susan and Bentley]

I have to laugh because Bentley did and sometimes still does the same thing.  He would drink out of his bowl but not eat his food unless we hand fed it to him, or even put it on the floor.  I thought it was because I used his kibble as treats when he was a puppy so if it came of my hand, it tasted better than if it came out of his bowl - lol.  I give him boiled chicken with his kibble now. He will eat the chicken out of his bowl, but not the kibble.  I put it in a treat ball and he plays with it and eats it that way - he likes to work for it I guess?  silly doodles!

[Lorraine & Amos]

OMG Susan...that's my dog exactly! LOL!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

There are a lot of dogs who wont eat or drink from stainless steal bowls.  Try a ceramic.  We actually have to use a plastic bowl because Spud thumps his bowl when he is hungry. He just slams his paw on the bowl like it is a ball  :)

He also likes this bowl because it isnt high. He lies down to eat

[Lorraine & Amos]

Thank You Joanne! Good to know.....

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Have you tried another type of bowl? This just cracks me up! I'd be interested in what others have to say. Silly Dooldes is right!;)

[Lorraine & Amos]

I have only tried the stainless bowls, but the one with his kibble in it is smaller because his food looked so little in the larger bowl.  I will try the larger bowl (maybe it won't seem so constricting to him). fingers crossed!

[Terri Sue]

How long has he been home with you? Is the food dry? Try drizzling water over the food to moisten it up. That worked for our Charlie. Try varying amounts of water. Our breeder served Charlie's food like that before he came home with us, so he was used to it...he didn't like the plain dry food. If your pup doesn't finish his food and you're worried about him not eating enough, use the rest as treats for training. And if you try the water, let us know how it goes!

[Lorraine & Amos]

He's been home with us going on 5 weeks. He ate well but now I feel his appetite goes back and forth.His food is dry but I have a good amount of it so I want to finish it before switching. I will try a larger bowl and maybe add water to the dry kibble to see if it works. Thanks for the tip!

[Mari Bezanson]

My parents dog does not like his food in a bowl either.  They just put his meals directly on the floor and he eats every morsel.  They have had to do this for a couple of years now!

[Lorraine & Amos]

silly doodles!

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

Naturally, dogs are inclined to want to work for their food. Feeding them out of a bowl with no competition of their littermates is actually a new experience! Try putting it in a muffin tin and seeing if he will eat it out of that - like the pan you would use to make muffins or cupcakes. If he likes that, you can look into getting him one of these... Tenley loves his!

http://www.slo-bowls.com/index.html

They're not just for dogs who eat too fast, they're great for providing a more stimulating (and natural) food-serving mechanism!

[Lorraine & Amos]

Thanks for the tip!  I will look into the slo-bowls!