Ask the French Bulldog Trainer - Frenchie with Food Issues
admin August 5th, 2008
I am a proud french bulldog owner and live in Bogota, Colombia. There’s not much knowledge here about French Bulldog breeding or behaviour so I hope you or your collegues can help me with this question.
My male puppy is about 6 months old and is extremely picky with his food. Moreover, he has decided since the last couple of months to eat only when I’m not around. I’ve had to change his food several times as I’m unaware if he dislikes the food or if he is just manipulating me. Well, apparently the food is not the issue as he eats really well whenever I’m not around. The problem is that I spend most of the time with him and he has gotten really, really skinny and looks like if he was from another breed or something. I’ve tried every single method that has been suggested to me: leaving his food down for 15 minutes and then picking it up until the next meal, leaving him alone with his food for some time, warming his food, adding water, you name it! He will only eat when he is just extremely hungry and then go for a hunger strike until the next 24 hours or more (this is during weekends). During weekdays someone takes care of him for me and gives him his lunch but my puppy won’t eat at night or in the morning when I’m around. Incredibly enough he won’t even drink water for really long periods, sometimes even for a day. Even when I serve his food and have to bring him to it, he will just walk away.
He was really sick to his stomach when he was 3 months old (3 ulcers, ouch) and I might have placed too much attention on him, so he knows that his stomach problems really worry me. I guess that he is manipulating me and calling my attention by not eating, but simply haven’t found a way to get him to eat. Obviously as he is not eating correctly, he is getting sick constantly as his inmune system is not as it should be. By the way, he is a VERY active dog which makes this behaviour even stranger.
Oh yes, I have never fed him human food of any kind.
What should I do? Have you ever had a Frenchie that shows similar behaviour? Any tips?
All your help would really be appreciated as I am really worried for my puppy.
Hope writes -
At this point your pup’s food issues seem to be more related to behavior than health, so I’m jumping in to answer your question.
I agree that, at this point, it’s not the taste of the food that’s the problem. It’s also not your dog being manipulative. What he is doing is picking up on your stress. Dogs seem to know when their people are tense, his eating makes you tense, so he’s trying to fix it by not eating when you’re around.
I would forget about trying to set a bowl down and have him eat. Instead, make a game and training session out of his mealtimes. I know he will use calories as well as get some, but you’ll both have a better time and stop stressing about his food.
When you want to feed him, put his food in a small bag or bowl, and keep it up where you can reach it. Have your dog perform some obedience exercise or “trick.” Reward him with his kibble - one piece at a time, many pieces for each reward. Have a great time doing it - if he sits, tell him “good sit” and reward. If he lies down, say “good down” and reward. If he watches you, say “good watch” and reward him. Leave the room, call him and say “good come” when he shows up.
Your sessions will have a dual purpose, getting food into him and teaching him new things. Reward him for anything positive he does, ignore behaviors you don’t want. You and your dog will form a strong bond through training, you’ll stop being quite so tense about his food, you’ll have a good time with your dog, and, as an added bonus, you’ll have an extraordinarily well-trained dog, too!
You can teach any behavior you want - just break it down into the smallest possible increments and teach those, in any order. You can put it all together when he’s good at each piece separately. Training sessions should only last five to ten minutes, so be generous with your rewards to get the most food into him that you can.
Relax, have fun and play-train your dog. Please let us know how you do!
Hope
