I think my doggie is senile

[Lothlorien]

I can't tell you how many times this dog gets fed her dinner at night and then seems to forget and starts barking at me by her dish. Then if I feed her right before we go out somewhere and come home later that night, she does the same thing. She's only 9. Is this normal? She is bugging the heck out of me tonight and she was fed at about 5:00.

 

[klmno]

LOL! You know, there is a fine line sometimes between senile and being smart enough to manipulate the "master". Are you sure that Pooch just isn't trying to get a few extra nibbles from you? One of ours does this sort of thing with his treats- we are convinced that he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) because even if it isn't regular time for potty, treats, etc., he seems to go through his ritual on his own schedule, then expects a treat for it and exhibits the exact behavior that would be warranted if it was treat time.

 

[Suz]

I was thinking that your poor "senile" doggie is actually training you to feed her on command...and doing a dang fine job of it!

I'd feed her them remove the bowl altogether so it's not there as a reminder. And if she goes there and barks anyway, try to distract her away from the spot and into another activity.

Suz

 

[mrscatinthehat]

Is she still hungry? Or is she a difficult child in her own right. I don't like it when they train us.

beth

 

[Wiped Out]

Our dog will lead us to her dish and try to trick us into feeding her again. I think it's only happened by mistake once or twice where she got a double dinner-one of us thought the other hadn't fed her.

 

[donna723]

Ha! That's what I was going to say! Are you sure she's not trying to put one over on you? Dogs are pretty slick that way!

Ragan tries that one almost every morning. I take her outside for a potty trip, then she plays for a little while (kitty-watching), then she gets in her crate and has her breakfast in there right before I leave for work. And just about every morning, at least once, she will go to the door again and stand there looking over her shoulder at me expectantly, like she's trying to tell me she really needs to go outside! I think she's hoping that I forgot that I already took her out and I'll take her again. But it never works ... mama didn't just fall off the turnip truck!

 

[Hound dog]

Have you wormed her recently? I know....gross, but it's possible. They can be picked up anywhere. And when our basset got the darn things she was never satisfied. Took me a bit to catch on. Gave her the wormer from the vet and she was fine.

Just noticed this with Bruce. He's been wailing over food for 2 wks driving me nuts. He has a dog dish size bowl I fill everyday, for Pete's sake. (and he ate it) Nichole spotted worms in his litter box. We cleaned the box and dewormed him just a bit ago.

Hopefully that will curb his appetite cuz his wailing is driving me nuts. lol

 

[Shari]

Check ouit the worm thing, but beyond that, poochie may be training you.l Our cat does it...any new body passing the food biowl is a poptential feeder.

 

[flutterbee]

Jewel has recently figured out that is she sits by the door (where her food dish is), I will let her out. She'll go out and she doesn't do anything. Comes back in and sits by the door. That's my cue to feed her. Thing is, she now thinks she needs to eat 5 times a day.

If it's truly time to be fed, she won't leave the door. If she's just trying to 'trick' me, and I ignore her, she'll eventually move on.

 

[Marguerite]

One of our budgies is currently trying this on me. She's got the 'run' of the house but prefers my sunny bathroom. I can see her through my door, most of the time she's perched on the plant stand. But when she flies down to perch on the stool, she starts chirping. "chirp... chirp... chirp... chirp..." over and over, until I go in and give her some millet. I'm trying to hand-tame her and so I put my arm down on the stool with the millet spray resting on my arm. She can have millet, but only if she comes and takes it from my arm. I let her eat until she flies away. She's skittish so she'll fly away if I move, or scratch my nose, or a shadow moves somewhere, or...
And then I stand up, put the millet away and leave the room.

A few minutes later I hear her again. "chirp... chirp... chirp... chirp..." she's back perched on the stool, looking for me to walk through the door with millet.

I've been wondering who is training who.

Marg

 

[donna723]

Another thing, but this probably isn't why she's doing it ... Did you know that the higher the quality of their dog food is, the LESS they will eat? Really! Of course, some dogs just like to eat a lot! But if they eat very low quality food they're always hungry and must eat more and more just to satisfy their nutritional needs. If they eat a high quality food, their needs will be met with a smaller amount of food. Lower quality foods have a lot of corn and other fillers in them - a lot of dogs are allergic to corn and they don't digest it well. It's just filler, which also makes them poop a lot. Look at the ingredients and if the first one listed isn't a protein, it's not good. And you probably won't find one of the good quality foods in a grocery store or Wal Mart, no matter how much they cost. You usually have to go to one of the smaller, independently owned pet supply stores to find it, but there's some really good foods out there. It costs a little more but it's not bad if you buy the big 30-pound bags, and they will actually eat less of it. Look for one with no artificial flavors or colors added. Sometimes the reason they gobble up the cheap stuff is because it tastes good to them - they spray it with lard to make it taste good and all kinds of artificial flavorings and other junk that you don't want them eating! Really! Check it out!

 

[Lothlorien]

I feed her Iams and they do sell it at Walmart. I've tried switching her food when Iams went up to $15.00 for a bag, but she gets bad gas and the runs, so I switched back. Walmart sells the same for a little cheaper, so I get it there.

She's gotten very obnoxious lately, too. She waits at the dinner table and barks at us. This is right after she at her dinner. She never did this before. We chase her away and then she inevitably comes right back. Then as we are cleaning up, we literally trip over her a half dozen times going to the garbage can or the sink.

I have to make a vet appointment. Hopefully no worms.

 

[Marguerite]

She really is behaving as if she is suddenly much hungrier. Very odd. But I wouldn't be thinking senility. And not necessarily worms, either. I think it's a fallacy that worm infestations make you hungry. A really bad infestation is more likely to make you tired and anaemic.

How old is she? Not that it's necessarily relevant.

I'm wondering about a number of possibilities, especially since you say she got sick from a different brand of dog food. I'm wondering if she's developing/has developed something like a doggy version of coeliac, or some other nutritional deficiency.

Is it a dry dog food? Does she drink enough water? A lot? A little? How is she in the hot weather, with water?

Somewhere in that dog's head (possibly influenced by a malabsorption problem, or some other metabolic/digestion problem) she says she is hungry. I think a talk to the vet is a really good idea.

Marg

 

[Big Bad Kitty]

TRY:

giving the poochie half of what you normally give her. Then, when she barks at her dish, feed her the rest.

maybe?

 

[Lothlorien]

She's 9. I don't know if she's drinking a LOT more water, but she does tend to drink more lately. It is summer here, so ......

I only give her dry. I started giving her a little wet food and she got sick....that was just when the Alpo/China thing all happened and of course I had that particular code of food. I tried giving her a little wet canned food since and she just gets very gassy. I do put a little human food in her dish once in a while...but generally it's a little protein or veggie.....no junkie stuff.

When she's sick...I only give her rice with a little broth or a little ground meat.

She's only 14 pounds, so she doesn't eat much.

 

[Lothlorien]

BBk.....I'm not going that road.....I'll have to start feeding her like that everyday. Eventually, when I leave the kitchen, she stops barking at me and then eventually forgets about it ...... or realizes that I'm not giving into her barking at me.

 

[Marguerite]

We were dogsitting for a while, this particular dog liked to eat - raw carrot! She would gently pick it up out of her bowl and then take it somewhere quiet to eat it in solitude, perhaps so nobody would try and steal it form her. To her, carrots were like a bone.

A thought - what about getting her a kong? Then you could stuff a bit of dry food inside it and give her that when she barks at you. It should keep her occupied enough to leave you alone for hours.

I admit I was also wondering if she might be developing diabetes. You really should get this checked out by a vet.

Marg

 

[Lothlorien]

The dog toy sounds like a good idea. She loves carrots too. Missy loves carrots and if she leaves them somewhere, the dog will tear the bag apart to get to them.

 

[donna723]

The Kong is a great idea! It will keep her busy and occupied for a long time! You can put all kinds of things in there. I give my Katy her Kong with a few spoonsful of peanut butter up inside of it and she loves it. I've heard of other people who put things like plain yogurt or yogurt mixed with a little kibble up inside of the Kong and then freeze it before they give it to the dog. They think it's doggie Diary Queen!

 

[Star*]

What kind of food are you feeding her?

She's 9. She should be on a geriatric/older dog formula.

Also a lot of foods that are out there are basically the equivallent of empty calories. You may think you are buying her a good brand dog food, but check the ingredients - if the first 2 of 3 are NOT some sort of meat (and not meat by-product) then it is basically garbage in garbage out and she has to eat MORE to compensate for her metabolism.

I did a LOAD of research about better brands of dog food to feed when a local factory here (Diamond Pet Foods) did not check their product and killed a number of dogs nationwide. They are miles from our home.

As far as barking at the dish -? I think she's hungry. Maybe you can try what we do - and none of our dogs have gotten overweight - NONE of them have EVER been food aggressive, and I dont' feed any more than I ever did -

We just fill the bowls up and let them have food all day and night long. I figure some days I am just not hungry at 12,3,6,9 and I dont know why I would expect anyone to make me eat on a schedule so strict.

Something to think about -

If there IS food in her dish and she's leading you to it - check around the bowl and see if there are maybe spiders, bugs, flies......something is bothering her. Have you tried elevating her dog dishes so she doesn't have to gulp her food? A stand is very easy to build and really helps a dogs digestive system. Mine rarely get hiccups now. And the bigger dog doesn't have to stand like a bad ballerina in front of the dish.