My puppy won't eat out of a bowl?
 

We got our 12 week old Biewer, Leroy, from the breeder on Friday and he seems to have adjusted to our home well.

The only thing is he will not eat his food out of a bowl. The food is the same one the breeder had been feeding him his whole life. He will eat it off the floor, but not in the bowl. We've tried metal, plastic and ceramic bowls with no luck.

Any thoughts? I'd rather him not eat off the floor his whole life lol.

try a plate or a really shallow bowl

Our Princess Sophie takes a few bits of kibble from her bowl to the other end of the room and eats them off the floor. She doesn't always do it this way but often enough that we scratch our heads wondering why she is doing this?? I think, as long as they are eating, it's good!!

My Brody also takes a few pieces from his bowl and takes them to where I am sitting on the floor and eats them right next to me. Then goes back for more and does it all over again. I don't mind. Sometimes he eats a few right over his bowl, but most of the time he eats it right by me. :)

Mine does the same thing, so I just sit close to his bowl and he eats it from the bowl. Love that he is so attached to me.

I have never been able to get Wallee to eat his kibble from a bowl either. I ended up getting him a treat ball and keep his kibble in that. That solved our problem. He will nudge it around and get the kibble to fall out on the floor (which he prefered) and eat what he nudges out.

Mine was the same way when he was a puppy. These little Yorkies really make you work! Mine wouldn't even eat out of a saucer. He preferred the floor. :( I ended up putting his food on an extra ceramic tile from our kitchen floor. It worked! Ceramic or granite tiles are pretty cheap if you're only buying one. They don't even have to be pretty. It's pretty easy to attach some of the grippy shelf liner things that come in little rolls to the bottom too. That way, the unfinished bottom is covered up & it doesn't wobble or slip around. He eventually outgrew his fussy eating habits. But that did do the trick in the meantime. Good luck!!

My new puppy did the same thing and when I contacted the breeder about it she said that she had fed them from a plate. That worked! I also foundation really neat bowl that has a low front and higher back made from bamboo on amazon.com by Petoga Couture.

Nena has always fished the kibbles out of the bowl and eats it out of the floor. :)

I'd like to clarify, he doesn't take the food out of the bowl to eat it (my old dog did that too), he will show no interest in the food at all as long as it is in a bowl. If I pour it on to the floor then he will eat it.

Is the bowl shiny or does his ID tag or collar clank against it? Did your breeder feed the puppies out of a pan or shallow type ring feeder? It could just be the change in type of eating utensil is a little too much for this baby. Maybe try a flat plate or pie pan and see if that will work, then slowly change to a saucer and then shallow bowl and then a deeper one. Moving the site of the bowl can help some dogs, too. My Jilly was like this when I first got her and had to be fed in a particular way off the floor but we eventually worked up as I described to a full bowl over time. Little by little I would place her food on the floor and some soaked, microwaved and cooled food in the dish and it smelled better, had a different consistency she loved. She would eat her food off the floor and then timidly get the better food out of the dish and slowly I placed less and less on the floor and more in the dish and then saucer and then shallow, then deep bowl. It worked. Have had rescues like this also and we slowly transitioned them the same way. Just put the best stuff or some treats in the bowl or dish you want them to learn to eat from and they will over time start to have more positive feelings about that type dish. Eventually they will eat out of anything!

Like I said in my post, we tried 3 types of bowls. The ceramic one is definitely not shiny and the plastic one isn't really either. He does not wear a collar/ID tag yet. We've tried feeding him in multiple areas/rooms. No go!

This morning I tried feeding him on a plate and still no luck. He will only eat off the floor lol. I've also tried feeding him little bits on the floor in front of the bowl to see if I could entice him to eat from the bowl but he will just sniff the bowl and move away. I'll try putting some treats and/or microwaving his food in the bowl to see id that helps.

He's so young it may just be the change of bowls and his still new situation that is making him dislike the bowl. I'd give him time, let him eat however he will and then try to put a special treat or cooled microwaved dog food in the bowl to entice him.

When he's not eating, having his bowl in the den or wherever he lives his life will slowly desensitize him to it and the fact of it. Put it near where you are playing with him or in your lap beside him. Put it in the middle of the den or living room floor and toss treats in it for him to get out and make a big deal if he does. Let him see you getting things out of that bowl with your teeth and laughing. Love the bowl up next to you and say "gooooood bowl". Laugh a lot when it's near you. When you take him outside, take the bowl along. Whatever he's fond of - put it in that bowl often. Make that bowl a part of his everyday existence and fill it with his favorite toys and drop his ball or chewie into it and clap and give him a treat when he fetches it out of there. Turn the bowl upside down and put toys on its bottom for him to knock off. Lay it on its side and make a trail of treats going across the floor into the side of it. Keeping that bowl around him as he goes about his day will soon find him accepting it for its sake and allow him to feel good about it. Then, when you put especially good food or a luscious treat in it, he should feel less shy about approaching and going into it.

Thanks for all your advice!

Does he drink water out of a bowl?

Buster was the same way. His trainer put a few treats in the bowl along with his kibble and he started eating from the bowl. It was amazing how finicky he was as a puppy!

Was he used to eating with his siblings if so put his stuffed toys around the bowl and wiggle them as if they are eating, may encourage him!

Yes he does with no issues lol. He's a strange one!

I've made some progress... he now eats around half his food in the bowl and the other half on the floor. Hopefully he'll be eating it all out of the bowl soon! It's tough because he's just not a big eater (which is so foreign to me, my last dog would eat ANYTHING). I have to coax him to get him to eat a full serving of food.

LOL. I feel your pain! I used to have to spread my Jilly's food out in a line on the floor on a paper towel(!) when I first got her - she was very frail and she wouldn't even eat it if it were clumped! But before too very long, she was eating out of a bowl. She was just scared of the bowl at first. But we played with her bowl and she got used to it and got her treats out of it and got her toys out of it during the day so she got used to being around it and lost her fear.

My little zooey did the same thing too. She would push food out of bowl onto floor, then eat it. Or dump bowl upside down. Went through 3 different types of bowls, and tried treat ball. She liked that too. Now she's a little over a year and I found a pretty crystal platter with a little edge that she eats out of and likes it. What a princess, likes the finer things in life like her mama!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update that my Leroy, at 16 weeks, now very comfortably eats from his bowl and finishes all his food!

Good new, pretty soon your problem will be trying to stop him eating anything that isn't in his bowl, shoes, hairbrushes, door frames. :animal-pa

Yay Leroy!! That is great news.

That is great news.

Jess did this too at first. She eventually wouldn't drink water out of a bowl either.? It seems like they try and dominate anyway they can and if its making you work like a dog (lol) to get them to eat so be it! I find they grow out of it after a while. So feed the dog off the floor for now, eventually as she settles in you could feed her out of a clown mask and she will eat it.:wink:

Good to hear things are going well. These little guys are really so often little oddballs at first and we do everything we can to try to figure them out and make them happy and comfortable but boy, they can make it hard at times!

Try a shallow dish...a cat dish works great, but he may be too large to eat from a cat dish....I used a 1 inch deep corning ware "casserole" dish....little square dish 6 x 6 x 1....some are not used to eating out of a bowl....some dont like shiny bowls, some dont like plastic bowls, several of mine are happiest eating off a plastic 3# coffee can lid.....these babies will work you to death.....and they look up at you with those innocent little loving eyes, absolutely certain that you can get this right.......!!!!!!