# Puppy won't eat until he spills the food on the ground?



## sprklnh2o (Dec 17, 2010)

My puppy is now 9.5 weeks old and he's developed this odd behavior where he won't eat his food out of his bowl until he spills it out. He wasn't doing this until 2 days ago which I find very odd. 

When i start putting his kibbles in a bowl, he gets really excited to eat it and can't wait to jump on it. I make him sit and stay until I put it down. Once I said "ok" he rushes over and then just stares at it, then backs up and lays down. He then tries to "paw" at it until it spills all over the floor. Then he eats it. 

I find this very strange and I don't understand why he's doing this. Can someone shed some light on this? 

He's currently on antibiotics for giardia and the strange thing is started diarrhea several days AFTER he took antibiotics. 

If anyone can shed some light on this and let me know how to deal with it, it would be GREATly appreciated!


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

He may have eaten out of a large flat bowl before you got him and therefore his bowl is strange to him and he feels more comfortable eating it out of a pan.
You could try putting it in a pie tin for a while until he gets used to eating at your place.
Also, what kind of bowl is it? Some dogs don't do well with plastic bowls. If it's stainless steel, he may not like the reflection (but stainless steel are best for disinfecting it). 
Just don't use ceramic if he likes tipping it over!


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

I agree, put it in a pie pan and see if that helps.


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## sprklnh2o (Dec 17, 2010)

He's eating out of a metal bowl. He ate out of it the first week he was with me with no problems. I am not sure why it started. My breeder told me that he ate out of a metal stainless bowl before he came home with me too with no problems. 

Do you guys think it's a good idea if, whenever he spills, I stop him from eating, and then put them all back in the bowl and let him try again?

If he continues to do this, maybe I should skip a meal and the next time he would be really hungry and won't care if he has to eat out of the bowl?


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

I don't think he'll make the connection- he's just a baby and they make a mess! I feed Stosh out of a glass pie plate since it's flat and seems like he's eating off the floor- and I can put it in the dishwasher. He didn't like putting his head in a bowl


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

I wonder if he was shocked on the face by the dish? There is NO way I would make a baby that young miss a meal. (unless it was medically necessary.)


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## Riley3696 (Aug 24, 2011)

I would just start putting all the food on the floor, that way you can have clean floors everyday!!


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## MonkeyGirl (Sep 3, 2011)

I think a lot of German Shepherds like to lay down when they eat. Not sure why. Both of mine did this. I finally figured out he was trying to pull the bull between his paws.


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## MonkeyGirl (Sep 3, 2011)

OOPS! BOWL not bull.


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## sprklnh2o (Dec 17, 2010)

MonkeyGirl said:


> I think a lot of German Shepherds like to lay down when they eat. Not sure why. Both of mine did this. I finally figured out he was trying to pull the bull between his paws.


Oh really? So did you end up helping them putting hte bowl between their paws and then they ate out of the bowl?


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## MonkeyGirl (Sep 3, 2011)

OK I'm ashamed to say I did push the bowl over because I was trying to keep him from spilling all over the floor. I bought a bowl with a lip on it and he was able to pull it over himself. Seems like he belched a lot less after he started laying down to eat.

I have not put the bowl over by the new puppy - she just seems to lay down by it and eat. She started this on her own a few weeks ago.
My vet told me this is a Shepherd thing so I never worried about it.


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## sprklnh2o (Dec 17, 2010)

Hey guys, is this not really a big deal? should i just let him eat however he wants?


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## dogdragoness (Jul 26, 2011)

Dogs are funny, mine dont like metal bowls, I think its the sound. I have always used plastic (hard to disinfect I know) but im afraid of ceramic bowls breaking, & of course they dont like metal. When Izze ( my cattle dog) was a pup her tags on her collar hit the bowl & that was it for metal bowls lol lol. 

I also had a shepherd rescue I had ate off a ceramic dinner plate . FYI, my (possibly) shepherd heeler mix lays down when she eats


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

sprklnh2o said:


> Hey guys, is this not really a big deal? should i just let him eat however he wants?


I'd still get the pie tin but yeah, not a huge deal.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

spilling the food bowl and water bowl is a puppy thing. my pup
didn't spill his food bowl he spilled his water bowl.
my pup laid down to eat and drink many times.
i hope your pup feels better soon.


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