How to Stop Whining for Food?

[DJ30]

When I'm getting Angel's food for her in the kitchen and she's in her room, she seems to know and will start to whine. I tell her "no" from the kitchen whenever I hear her. When I go into her room to feed her, she doesn't whine though. Is there anyway I can stop her whining for her food when I'm not in her room?

[Sugar's Mom]

It's a dog thing. Mine all three know when I am getting food ready in the next room. They whine and carry on, then when they see me bringing it in, they get all excited and start rough housing with each other.

[FirstYorkie]

Hmmm.... Does it really bother you enough that you want to exert the effort to retrain?

[DJ30]

I just want to teach her good manners and not bad habits. Do most dogs whine for their food?

[taylorsmom]

I can't get my Yorkie to eat? She's 5 1/2 mos... Now when she hears me go into the treat drawer it's a different story... So i try not treat her too much and spoil her appetite. But for food... I have tried many different brands... The Royal Cinaie puppy is ok - she'll eat about a tbls.. and only f I put it in my hand... I'm considering just making food.... Alothough I really don't want to... But I've seen some recipes on line.... What are you feeding that makes your Yorkie whine til they get it??? Maybe I need to try that...

[Erin]

The easiest way to try to make it stop is just ignore it, and don't reward it in any way. Make her quiet down, even if only for a few seconds at first, before she gets her food.

Loki doesn't beg at the table (i'm serious!) because it's never sucessful - we do not feed him from the table, in fact he gets no attention while we are eating at the table. He usually lies down and quietly watches. When we share it goes into his bowl after we are done. HOWEVER - if I'm on the couch with a snack he begs, typically by sitting and staring at me with the occasional woof. Why? Because when I'm eating popcorn or whatever I will sometimes share - so begging is occasionally successful in that situation. BUT, he knows that he does NOT get anything, even a treat or toy, unless his butt is on the floor. So if I have food he is either in sitting or in a "down" position because that's what works. He knows that jumping on me or whatever is going to get him a time-out, not a snack, so he doesn't do that. They are super smart :-)

My whole point is that you can create a new routine. Does she have any training? When I'm getting Loki's food I put him in a down-stay. Then I "release" him once I'm done. He takes meds and has things added to his food so this way his nose is out of the bowl while I'm adding these things. Another idea is to just wait until she is quiet to feed her. So go prepare the food and then set it on the counter and leave the room until she is quiet, then feed her. At first she may only quiet down for a few seconds.

I'd say it's only a serious issue if you think it is. Like for me, sitting and staring at me is acceptable, but jumping all over me is not.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by taylorsmom

I can't get my Yorkie to eat? She's 5 1/2 mos... Now when she hears me go into the treat drawer it's a different story... So i try not treat her too much and spoil her appetite. But for food... I have tried many different brands... The Royal Cinaie puppy is ok - she'll eat about a tbls.. and only f I put it in my hand... I'm considering just making food.... Alothough I really don't want to... But I've seen some recipes on line.... What are you feeding that makes your Yorkie whine til they get it??? Maybe I need to try that...

This is a silly thing but it's easier than changing foods - try changing bowls or try feeding off of a plate or the floor. Loki's first bowls were small stainless steel. Apparently he hated them and would never eat out of them. He would eat off the floor, or off a plate, or out of my hand. Finally I found some HUGE ceramic bowls. His food covers about 1/2 of the bottom in a single layer - but they are wide enough that he will eat out of them.

Loki eats Canidae. He turned his nose up at many foods before the Canidae. He also had almost weekly diarrhea before the Canidae, which it has pro-biotics in it and we haven't had a bout of diarrhea since we switched almost a year ago!! You just have to find the right food - and switching foods is difficult. You need to do it gradually over 1-2 weeks. So it's best to do some research and do a taste test before going through that!

RC has corn in it. It's an OK food as long as you don't notice any itching or problems with digestion. Also, are you free feeding or feeding at scheduled times? Loki eats twice a day - he used to eat 3 times a day when he was a puppy. I put the food down for 15-20 mins and then pick it up. He quickly learned to eat when I feed him! It also helps him not overeat. He gets a certain amount, which he finishes about 1/2 the time. I pick up the rest. I just monitor his size (not weight, I haven't weighed him in months) to make sure he is eating enough and not too much! You can tell just by looking at them and feeling their ribs.

[DJ30]

Originally Posted by taylorsmom

I can't get my Yorkie to eat? She's 5 1/2 mos... Now when she hears me go into the treat drawer it's a different story... So i try not treat her too much and spoil her appetite. But for food... I have tried many different brands... The Royal Cinaie puppy is ok - she'll eat about a tbls.. and only f I put it in my hand... I'm considering just making food.... Alothough I really don't want to... But I've seen some recipes on line.... What are you feeding that makes your Yorkie whine til they get it??? Maybe I need to try that...

I totally understand how you feel about getting your Yorkie to eat as Angel doesn't eat readily unless there's soft dog food mixed in with her kibble. TCC and I feed her Nutro Max Mini Chunk w/ Nutro Max Puppy Chicken, Lamb & Rice formula. We mix about 1 tsp. of soft food with the kibble and wet the kibble w/ water to soften it. The breeder fed her the Mini Chunk and gave us a can of the soft food for teething.

You can read about our frustration at this thread: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44307

I would prefer not to give her the soft food because I don't want her to get used to it, but I don't know if she'll eat her kibble otherwise. We stopped giving her dog deli meat because the roll is too big and it would be wasted.

[DJ30]

Originally Posted by Erin

The easiest way to try to make it stop is just ignore it, and don't reward it in any way. Make her quiet down, even if only for a few seconds at first, before she gets her food.

Loki doesn't beg at the table (i'm serious!) because it's never sucessful - we do not feed him from the table, in fact he gets no attention while we are eating at the table. He usually lies down and quietly watches. When we share it goes into his bowl after we are done. HOWEVER - if I'm on the couch with a snack he begs, typically by sitting and staring at me with the occasional woof. Why? Because when I'm eating popcorn or whatever I will sometimes share - so begging is occasionally successful in that situation. BUT, he knows that he does NOT get anything, even a treat or toy, unless his butt is on the floor. So if I have food he is either in sitting or in a "down" position because that's what works. He knows that jumping on me or whatever is going to get him a time-out, not a snack, so he doesn't do that. They are super smart :-)

My whole point is that you can create a new routine. Does she have any training? When I'm getting Loki's food I put him in a down-stay. Then I "release" him once I'm done. He takes meds and has things added to his food so this way his nose is out of the bowl while I'm adding these things. Another idea is to just wait until she is quiet to feed her. So go prepare the food and then set it on the counter and leave the room until she is quiet, then feed her. At first she may only quiet down for a few seconds.

I'd say it's only a serious issue if you think it is. Like for me, sitting and staring at me is acceptable, but jumping all over me is not.

When I go into her room to give her the food, I do wait until she's calm before I put the bowl on the ground. I was just wondering if there's a way I can get her to stop whining/barking when I'm in the kitchen getting her food and she's in her bedroom, which is in another room. We don't give her table food, and we only give her treats when we're training her. TCC and I have only taught her to come. We've tried to train her to sit, but that's a work in progress. She always jumps for the treat. We have a problem with her jumping all the time too, and I asked for advice on how to stop this in another thread: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46865.