Playing in food and water

[Bluebells]

So ... Jax is almost a year old, and he’s always had a habit of playing with his kibble. I free feed the kibble, because he’s small (about four and a half pounds) and not food-motivated or even particularly food-interested unless he’s hungry. But when he is hungry, he has great fun pawing his kibble out of his dish, batting it around (like a cat ) and then pouncing on it to eat it. Except recently, he has been pawing the food out as soon as I fill his dish, and then leaving it all over the floor because he isn’t hungry yet.

Recently, he’s also decided it’s also fun to paw water out of his water dish. Not just a little water — all of his water. He gets wet, the floor gets wet, all his toys (which for some mysterious reason he gathers around the water dish for “swim time”) get wet. Oh, and if I haven’t swept up the kibble he’s pawed out of the other dish, that gets wet too.

I think I can minimize the kibble play by not feeding as much and by not leaving it down all the time, but I don’t really like the idea of taking away his water. On the other hand, it’s not really good for him to get wet and then chilled in the air conditioning, and I don’t like having puddles of water on the floor, which might cause people to slip and fall.

What to do?

[nanajoy]

All of my small dogs take mouthfuls of their kibble and carry it into the family room to eat it. If they get distracted, we will find a small stash left on the rug. Our tiny poodle, Beau, would play with his food as you described...pouncing on it as though it was prey.

Luckily, none of our dogs has intentionally spilled water, and I do understand the safety risk involved. Hopefully someone here will have experience on how to break this habit. Good luck!

[matese]

I had a lil gal that played with her food, she would roll on it like making it lol then ate it but, never had one that played with their water so can't help ya with that.

[Lovetodream88]

I keep my dry dog food in a dog tray maybe that might help so he can see it all. Penny has dug in the water dish before and it was everywhere and she did this several times, I finally had to fuss at her and tell her no. You might have to tell him no a few times. Joey used to put his ball in the water while he would drink and it would be soooo gross. Is it a bowl that maybe he is seeing a shadow in or something?

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by nanajoy

All of my small dogs take mouthfuls of their kibble and carry it into the family room to eat it. If they get distracted, we will find a small stash left on the rug. Our tiny poodle, Beau, would play with his food as you described...pouncing on it as though it was prey.

Luckily, none of our dogs has intentionally spilled water, and I do understand the safety risk involved. Hopefully someone here will have experience on how to break this habit. Good luck!

And here I thought it was a terrier thing — ie, he isn’t allowed to chase down rodents so he compensates by chasing down kibble.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by matese

I had a lil gal that played with her food, she would roll on it like making it lol then ate it but, never had one that played with their water so can't help ya with that.

He hasn’t started rolling in the kibble yet. Something else for me to look forward to....

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

I keep my dry dog food in a dog tray maybe that might help so he can see it all. Penny has dug in the water dish before and it was everywhere and she did this several times, I finally had to fuss at her and tell her no. You might have to tell him no a few times. Joey used to put his ball in the water while he would drink and it would be soooo gross. Is it a bowl that maybe he is seeing a shadow in or something?

What kind of tray? It took multiple tries before I found food & water dishes that are small enough he can’t climb into but heavy enough that he can’t (easily) flip over. But he’s had these dishes for months and he just started the water thing in the past two weeks. I don’t think he’s seeing anything in the water; when he’s doing it, he just looks like he’s playing / having fun.

He also has a long time habit of dropping his toys into his food and water. There’s almost always a toy or two sitting on the counter drying out after a dunking — and more now since he started playing in the water.

I guess I’ll just keep trying to stop the water play with firm “no”s. What I don’t want to do is give him some kind of attention that he considers a reward for playing in the water. Or make him hate baths even more than he already does by making him associate water with a negative consequence.

[matese]

A firm no with a frown on your face when he's pawing at his water, just remembered he has a vision issue, but a harsh tone he will not take as a praise and will not associate water bowl with bath time.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

What kind of tray? It took multiple tries before I found food & water dishes that are small enough he can’t climb into but heavy enough that he can’t (easily) flip over. But he’s had these dishes for months and he just started the water thing in the past two weeks. I don’t think he’s seeing anything in the water; when he’s doing it, he just looks like he’s playing / having fun.

He also has a long time habit of dropping his toys into his food and water. There’s almost always a toy or two sitting on the counter drying out after a dunking — and more now since he started playing in the water.

I guess I’ll just keep trying to stop the water play with firm “no”s. What I don’t want to do is give him some kind of attention that he considers a reward for playing in the water. Or make him hate baths even more than he already does by making him associate water with a negative consequence.

They don’t make the one I have anymore but when I was testing new food I bought and used these https://www.chewy.com/petrageous-des...inner/dp/55327. They are probably big for him but any tray really would work. They have smaller ones for different things like this one from target https://www.target.com/p/plastic-bat...81#lnk=sametab.

[lilgidget]

You have to remember that Yorkies think they weight 100 lbs. They want to control everything just to let us know they can. Their antics are just too cute but also can be very annoying.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

They don’t make the one I have anymore but when I was testing new food I bought and used these https://www.chewy.com/petrageous-des...inner/dp/55327. They are probably big for him but any tray really would work. They have smaller ones for different things like this one from target https://www.target.com/p/plastic-bat...81#lnk=sametab.

I’m still looking into trays. A tray could work for his kibble, but only if it’s small enough that he can’t climb onto/into it AND if it has a non slip back that he can’t push across the floor.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by lilgidget

You have to remember that Yorkies think they weight 100 lbs. They want to control everything just to let us know they can. Their antics are just too cute but also can be very annoying.

True. I always say that Jax is not going to grow as big as he thinks he is.

[Bluebells]

Update on the food & water play:

I’ve been able to minimize the food play by picking up the kibble dish and just offering it to him periodically during the day.

Unfortunately, I might have to do the same with his water. I’ve been using firm “no”s when he starts to play in his water, and he’s learned really quickly .... to only play in his water when no one is in the kitchen to scold him. He did it FOUR times yesterday, and I swear I had not been away from the kitchen for more than a few minutes any of those four times. Twice he was sound asleep in his bed when I left the room, and I came back to find him happily splashing in a puddle. Sigh. I’m sure this isn’t some form of separation anxiety from being deprived of my company for a few minutes. He seems to really enjoy the splashing. And also the game of tug-of-war with the towel as I clean up the mess.

[matese]

I'm sorry to say I sit here LOL at the visual, I just love puppies and their silly antics. For me it was hard to correct bad behavior because they were so tiny, funny and cute and none of my females were tiny as adults, but tiny to me as puppies lol.

I know all the water on the floor is frustrating, but he's having fun and now added fun with tug of war towel time lol.
I hope you can straighten this out.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

I’m still looking into trays. A tray could work for his kibble, but only if it’s small enough that he can’t climb onto/into it AND if it has a non slip back that he can’t push across the floor.

Maybe look in cat stuff too. Sometimes they have little dishes that are like little trays.