# Will my 15 week old forgive me?



## rwinte (Jan 7, 2009)

I lost my patience with my 15-week old Scottish Terrier yesterday at dinner time because she didn't finish her dinner. I yelled at her and now this morning she was very hesitant about eating because of it. I know I shouldn't have treated her badly, but I did it because I was stressed about other things and I had no patience left. Will she ever forgive me and start eating normally again?

I have the benefit of being able to telecommute to work from home often, so I can stay home with her and give her attention while I work, if that will help any.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

IMO you just need to let it go...you made a mistake....move forward...you don't need to "make it up" to your pup...just try to keep calm next time, put the food down...if its not gone in 15-20 min put it up till the next feeding time and offer it again...


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## Mom2Sadie (Jan 28, 2008)

You can't make a dog eat. If they're hungry, they'll eat. They can miss many meals and be just fine. If you make a huge deal out of food, it's going to become an issue when there's no reason for it to.

Just forget what happened. Put the food down and he'll eat when he's ready.

My dog's food has been put out for almost an hour now and they haven't touched it. They're too busy playing. They may eat it in 10 minutes from now or they may wait 'til noon. It's there when they want it.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

A healthy dog won't starve itself, and can go a remarkably long time without food. If your dog isn't eating, put down the food for 15 minutes. If she doesn't eat, take it back up again and refrigerate it till the next mealtime. Don't leave food sitting around; there are several negative effects of that on training. If she skips one meal -- and that means no treats till the next meal, either -- it's highly unlikely she won't eat at the next one, but even if she doesn't, repeat. As I said before, a healthy dog will not starve itself. It's time for some tough love 

As for your original question: don't fret too much about it. We all make mistakes. When my first dog was a puppy I swore by the housetraining method of rubbing her nose in her pee and spanking her. (I was 9.) I know now that method is rubbish, but the same dog is still my best companion and is as well-trained as I have ever asked her to be. Puppy training is never a straight line, and we learn alongside our dogs.


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## wvasko (Dec 15, 2007)

Dogs are resilient. Please take the 15 minute feeding advice. In 50 years I have never had any dogs commit suicide by starving themselves. ninja is correct you and dog will learn together. Trust me on this there is not one member on this dog forum that has not got a few mistakes under their belt. Nobody is born an expert. I was close to being perfect but not if you listen to my wife.


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## deege39 (Dec 29, 2008)

Don't beat yourself up over loosing your patience; In our lifetimes, we all lose our patience at _least_ once!

I've lost my patience over Donatello not eating his food, (When I had to add broth to it to make it tasty?) Ugh. That was horrible... I can sit here and make excuses about why I blew my top, but it just boils down to a mistake... Don't worry about! Your little girl will forgive you, next time you feed her, give her a nice delicious treat from your hand and praise her and she should soon forget about the incident.

Like other's have said, you can't force her to eat when she's not hungry, you can't force us to eat when we're not hungry... Well... You _can_ but most of us would rather not. lol!

Good luck!


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## Poly (Sep 19, 2007)

rwinte said:


> I lost my patience with my 15-week old Scottish Terrier yesterday at dinner time because she didn't finish her dinner. I yelled at her and now this morning she was very hesitant about eating because of it. I know I shouldn't have treated her badly, but I did it because I was stressed about other things and I had no patience left. Will she ever forgive me and start eating normally again?


You have just learned an important lesson about dealing with terriers  They do not take kindly to serious corrections from their handler- even verbal corrections - unless they can see a positive way to avoid it. If they don't see a way out, they can become distrustful. 

Other dogs may tend to just stop the behavior that prompted the correction and assume that you will set things right. Terriers not so much. Keep that in mind when you go on to your pet obedience training.

You will get a turnaround in her suspiciousness if you maintain a positive, low key when offering her food. For a *short* while- a few days or so - you may want to consider leaving the food down for a slightly longer interval - maybe 30 minutes instead of the usual 15. This may play havoc in the short run with her house training , but you can get that back when you return to the 15-minute rule.

It's more important that you re-establish your trust with her at this point



rwinte said:


> I have the benefit of being able to telecommute to work from home often, so I can stay home with her and give her attention while I work, if that will help any.


This will help a lot to re-establish trust. Try to have her in the same room with you as much as possible. You don't have to play with her - just have her there and talk to her softly once in a while. 

You are in an excellent position to implement close-tether training - which I would have recommended doing anyway - so this should be easier for you. 

Tether Training


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## emily445455 (Apr 8, 2008)

Why did you scold it for not eating all it's food? 

But yes, he will forgive you.


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