# Reluctance to eat



## tech_dog (Feb 20, 2013)

I've got a 4 year old female Vizsla, very well trained by most measures. I've got an odd situation with her eating I haven't been able to resolve.

At one point she started a behavior where as I began pouring dog food in her bowl, she'd lunge in and would scatter food everywhere. I corrected this by making her wait before eating, with an explicit command that it was now OK to eat. This is something we've trained with treats and she knows well. This solved the issue for a year old more.

Now, it's as if she doesn't' quite understand that it's OK to eat. I'll give her the command, but she'll just get excited, wage her tail, and look at me as if she's not sure if it's OK to begin eating. The command to eat still works perfectly when we're using treats, but we get this confused reaction when I tell her it's OK to eat her dog food. 

Eventually she'll get hungry enough to eat, but she'll often go an hour or more "begging" for the permission to eat that we've already given.

Has anyone seen this, or better yet seen and corrected this? I always worried about "resource guarding" but now I seem to have gotten the opposite.

Thanks for any advice,

Note that I've ruled out a specific food issue and hearing issues. 

T.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Not really sure on this one.
If it works with treats, maybe try placing a treat in with her food.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

A couple thoughts. Is there some physical cue you used originally, maybe without thinking about it, that you're not doing anymore? For a while that was an issue with my girl. 
Have you tried feeding her in a different spot of the house or using a different bowl? 
Or since she'll take treats, try giving her a piece of food by hand.


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## tech_dog (Feb 20, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestions.

On the visual cues, I've thought about that and tried to rule it out. It's possible the dog thinks otherwise, but I think I'm doing everything I've always done. The command still works when it's a treat on the floor, but not when it's a bowl of food.

I'll try throwing a treat on top of the food and see if that works, and see if I can re-link the behaviors. Thanks for the suggestion.


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