# My puppy wont let me leave.



## WhiteWolfBeauty (Oct 11, 2011)

No matter how hungry she is, if I try and walk away from my 10 week old german shepherd puppy she follows me. I have to walk back and redirect her to eat. 

What is the cause of this and how can I correct it? It's not really bothering me too much, but I don't want to be teaching her the wrong things.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

They like to be where-ever you are so if you leave the room they will follow sometimes. Ace is usually the last one to finish eating and if I leave the room to go read the paper he will stop eating and follow me to the other room. Usually I have to go into the kitchen and stay till he finishes or one of the other dogs will eat his food for him. I don't know if this is right or wrong but that is what mine does.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Aiden was the same way when he ate kibble. He had some very bizarre eating habits and I would literally have to sit on the floor tapping my finger on the dish to get him to eat. I tried the whole "picking up food after x amount of minutes" thing, but that only resulted in him not eating for close to three days. I switched him to raw two weeks ago and haven't had to remind him it's dinner time since! =P
In your situation, I would maybe try leaving it out for 10 minutes or so, then picking up what she doesn't eat. Then she may learn that meal time is the time to eat and if you don't then you'll miss out. Other than that, I might try crating her with her food until she finishes.

Good luck! I know how frustrating meal times can get.


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

Wolfie does the same thing. One of us usually has to sit in the same room with him for him to eat. Sometimes, if we are all out on the screened porch, I bring the food with me and he eats there.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

Cut the pup some slack, it is only 10 weeks old. That's really young to expect a pup to have much independence. At that age they want to be glued to your ankle. It hasn't had time to adjust to loosing its mom and litter mates. Stay in the room with it and let it eat. 

Puppies are hard! They are a lot of work and will require a lot of your time. My advice, get used to it now, it will only get worse. If you cut corners now you will regret it later.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Why don't you just wait until she's done to walk away?


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## WhiteWolfBeauty (Oct 11, 2011)

There is no need to get on my case.

I was only asking because I didn't know if this was dominant behavior or if I was encouraging the wrong thing by staying near her while she ate. 

I am staying by her while she eats.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

WhiteWolfBeauty said:


> There is no need to get on my case.
> 
> I was only asking because I didn't know if this was dominant behavior or if I was encouraging the wrong thing by staying near her while she ate.
> 
> I am staying by her while she eats.


This will probably continue most, if not all, of her life.
My dogs ( I had one at a time) follow(ed) me everywhere. I have a 4 season enclosed breezeway that I put her in if I don't want to be bothered. But she usually only eats if I am present. Current dog is 2.
She is attached to you, enjoy it.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Puppies want to be where the action is and are often used to free feeding instead of scheduled feeding. I always fed mine in their crates and that helped because if nothing was going on, they'd settle down to eat. I'd leave them with their food for 15 minutes and whatever they didn't eat got taken up until the next meal time.


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## WhiteWolfBeauty (Oct 11, 2011)

I would free feed her but she is in the process of being de-wormed at the moment and I cannot afford unpredictable bowel movements (which can lead to messes inside!) because I have small children. 

So she is on a strict schedule until I know she is worm free and no longer shedding eggs.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

I don't think free feeding is a good idea. But young puppies are often used to free feeding from Mom, and then often breeders free feed. This means they have no concept for "eat now! or else it's gone". 

What I'm saying is that I leave the food down with the puppy in the crate for 15 minutes usually 3 times a day. If they don't eat in those 15 minutes, they don't get offered food again until the next feeding time. This teaches them to eat now and the crate prevents them from following me or finding something else to do to distract them from eating.


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## WhiteWolfBeauty (Oct 11, 2011)

gotcha. thanks for the advice!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Stosh is almost 2 and he's getting better at finishing his meal of I leave the room but he prefers I stay- I think it's true of many GSDs. Your pup wants to know what's going on with you at all times and will choose you over eating. Enjoy your pup- the time goes so fast!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

WhiteWolfBeauty said:


> There is no need to get on my case.


I'm afraid you've misunderstood me - I was not trying to get on your case, I was asking an honest question. I've never had a problem getting a puppy to eat (mine usually INHALED their food with me there or not!), but if I did have a puppy that would follow me away from the food bowl rather than stay behind and eat, it seems like such an easy fix that I couldn't figure out why someone would stress over it. 

Puppies just naturally want to be with their people, and this is a GOOD thing, because you can exploit that for training purposes. Very little of what your puppy does is going to have anything at all to do with dominance. Puppies are a lot of fun and I love them, but they're also a lot of work - dont make it any harder by stressing over the little things!


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## hps (Jul 18, 2011)

I'm sorry but i'm gonna the one that leaves the room, when pup gets hungry it'll go back in and eat either with me or with out.

Don't get me wrong, I love my dog, but i'm not gonna be tied down by a dog that won't eat unless i'm in the room. Sure it's only 10 wks for it's gonna need to learn. Do yourself a favor and leave the room pup will get hungry enough to go back and help itself.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

It depends on the dog. Some are avid eaters, some are picky, some are in between. My dog has been self-feeding since she was 4-5 months old (she is 2 now). She eats, on average, 3 cups a day. Some days she doesn't eat all day until 7 p.m. Some days she eats a couple times a day, it is up to her. She has always maintained a slender build. Never over-ate, never under-ate. The only thing I make sure of is that there is never more than 2 cups in her dish because I don't want her to decide to gorge herself at night.


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## WhiteWolfBeauty (Oct 11, 2011)

My apologies. 

I'm used to a more hostile forum and I assume everyone is giving me attitude. I'm knocking it off right now. 

Right now she eats 1 cup of puppy food at 9 am and 1 cup of food at 5pm. i make sure she gets about 3-4 cups of water daily. More if we've been out in the sun playing.

She is currently 18 lbs. 


I'll try not to stress about her eating habits. I rather enjoy her being so clingy, I just wasn't sure if I wss teaching her something bad by allowing her to follow me around. It's actually quite endearing. My husband is jealous because he wanted the shepherd to favor him, but she is definitely glued to my side. 

Off topic: I wanted a husky, and still plan to get one when our financial situation picks up so we can get a bigger yard. I bet you anything the husky will favor my husband which will be exactly opposite of what we intended. Oh well, I love my little girl and I don't mind if she follows me around like a lost puppy.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Keep in mind that the more she wants to be with you, to pay attention to you and to follow you, the easier it will be to train her - definitely nothing bad about THAT! Now is the perfect time to reinforce attention and build focus.


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## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

awww....puppy attachment. Those are the best times.

My dogs are 4,3,2. I feed my dogs and walk away to do other things. They all follow me to see what I'm doing...but usually go back to finish eating. My oldest never eats unless I'm around where he can see me. He's a weird eater, though. He will only eat if people come over to visit......or if the other two dogs are laying down. He will grab a mouthful of food....run up to one of the other dogs and do his weird little growl/talk thing...and run away.


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## GSDkid (Apr 19, 2011)

My girl did this in the beginning. I had to be right next to her. Time after time, I would step a bit further away. She eventually got used to it so I can watch TV while she's in the kitchen now. I can go upstairs with her still eating. It's very convenient.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Why don't you just wait until she's done to walk away?


:thumbup:


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## mwiacek10 (Nov 8, 2010)

PaddyD, you've made me feel so much better. Mine is the same way. I was just at the vet last night (routine shots) and was asking her if Gunny was too thin. He doesn't eat all his food at one time and sometimes doesn't finish the 4 cups. I was worried something was wrong. She assured me he is at a good weight and that eating slower is better than gulping it all down at once.


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