Am I doing it wrong?

[rylariaizmik]

Cerulean is now 4.5 months and he's still alive. Ok that's out of the way. Here's my dilemma. My dog won't eat outside of his crate. I've tried putting his food in his dog bowl and sitting with him but he won't eat. He is so preoccupied with the rest of the room he won't eat. I've tried putting him in the ex-pen to eat so he's not eating in his crate and he spends more time climbing than eating. When I had to work during the day I purchased the crate bowls and he eats/drinks just fine out of those but I feel bad that he has to eat in a cage. We've been following the schedule in the "7 days" book and it's a perfect schedule for him just wish he'd eat outside of the crate. Is this something that comes with age? I mean he is clearly hungry when I bring him out to eat he just won't.

[Batgirl38]

Once when I was giving my dog too many snacks and he didn't want to eat his regular food the vet told me to talk away the snacks altogether for awhile. I said what if he still want eat. The Vet said a dog WILL NOT starve his self if there's food and if he's not sick. And guess what, once he saw he wasn't getting any snack, he ate that food up...lol
So I would leave it where you want his eating spot to be and if he gets hungry enough he will eat

[ritapatt]

My middle son had to be fed in a quiet room because he would lose interest and not eat and then scream to be fed an hour later. I think the pups are alot like infants- they grow out of things and then you can move their habits to better ones when the time is right. If he has to eat in the crate for awhile you can aim for change later on.

[ironmike86]

He doesn't have to eat in a cage. That's his safe place. Keep feeding him there he's fine. He's choosing to eat there

[LunarBerry]

One thing you might try is getting some nutri-cal or something similar and getting them to lick it some to get their appetite going. I give a finger dap to my pup every so often, like after a bit of play or before or after she eats sometimes.