# Nudging and Barking while I prepare his food



## Thane Teddy (Jul 27, 2013)

My puppy will be 4 months on September 2nd. I adore him and don`t have much to complain about. He is a good dog and learns quickly..........except.......when I am preparing his food, he will nudge me with his nose. He has been doing it for a few weeks and I find it cute - feeling that warm little nose on my calf. Somewhere along the way, he started barking also (still nudging too) as if to say, "Hurry up, I am here and I am hungry."

I give him meat dog food from a container and I mix in dry food. I wet the dry food when it is mixed with a bit of warm water because he gulps the food and I don`t want him to choke, and I think it probably makes it taste better. The point is that it takes me close to a minute to complete it.

I still find the nudging cute but the barking gives me a headache. Oh and just to be 100% clear, the nudging is not aggressive at all- I have tried telling him to sit (impossible when he knows what`s coming!), telling him to stop, throwing some of the dry food for him to eat while I mix. But I fear this could become a habit that NEVER goes away.

Also....he was at the Vet last month and she put him on a diet. In early July, he weighed 2.6kg. In early August, he weighed in at 3.7. She told me to cut down on the dried food which I did. He eats a lot of treats during the day as we are in puppy school and I try to work on training him every day. So I am not sure if he is legitimately hungry, or just excited that "yummy yummy, something`s about to go in my tummy", or both. 

Any suggestions?


----------



## Animed (Aug 26, 2013)

Could you try preparing his food in advance so that at mealtimes, you can just put it down for him? If he doesn't have to bark and nudge you while you're getting it ready, he may be able to break the habit altogether.

Another tactic could be to actually stop preparing the food completely once the barking starts, putting the empty bowl down and walking away for 5-10 minutes. In time, this training should teach him that barking doesn't encourage the food to appear and again, help to break the habit. It sounds like he's really got into the habit of doing this so you're obviously going to need stricter training than the "sit" command that you've already tried.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I would stop fixing his food but just freeze while he is mouthing off rather than put the dish down and walking away. Once he shuts up start measuring and mixing again. 5 minutes is too long for a 4 month old pup to process.

You might start having him sit and wait in a spot while you prepare his meals. The first few times it will take 10 minutes to prepare as you will go put him back about 100x but after a week he will get it and you will only have to put him on his spot a few times each meal. Staying on a spot is a very valuable skill to have, might be worth taking the time 3x a day to work on this.

Some dogs are always starving. I was surprised that 42 pound Sassy didn't actually finish off the 40 pound bag of kibble her stupid humans left within reach one time. Maybe there wasn't enough water to go with it. I never paid any attention to her food seeking, if she was ribby she got more food, if a bit 'fluffy' she got less.


----------



## Spirit_of_Cotons (Jun 21, 2009)

Interesting that your vet said to cut the dry food when my vet said that wet food causes dogs to gain weight, oh well. Don't throw food his way either as you're just reinforcing his behavior. You're telling your dog it's okay to nudge and bark. 

Anyway I agree with Kathyy. You have to get your dog out of the kitchen and make him sit in another room. Maybe have him in another room entirely that way he won't see you making the food. Try to do the "sit" and "stay" command and every few seconds, come out and reward him. Then prolong the process once your dog has it down pat. If your pup won't stay, put up a baby gate and ignore the barking. Once your dog is calm, then put his food down. Good luck.


----------



## llillio (Aug 15, 2013)

Haha, my little guy does the same thing - nudging and standing on his hind legs while I measure out his meal for him. Fortunately he doesn't bark and his excitement doesn't bother me much so I let him. He used to get very excited at meal times but we've managed to curb his excitement down enough that now he'll sit and wait indefinitely even with a bowl of food in front of him until he gets an "ok".

Anways, I totally agree with the posts above. Maybe the best solution is prevention? Get him used to doing sit-stays so he doesn't even have to see you preparing his meal. Out of sight, out of mind... I do recall the trainer mentioning in our puppy class that if we're feeding the puppy scrap food from our meal, don't give it to him directly from the counter top or the dinner table so he doesn't associate our dinner time with his treats.


----------



## mcdavis (May 1, 2012)

Kathyy said:


> I would stop fixing his food but just freeze while he is mouthing off rather than put the dish down and walking away. Once he shuts up start measuring and mixing again. 5 minutes is too long for a 4 month old pup to process.
> 
> You might start having him sit and wait in a spot while you prepare his meals. The first few times it will take 10 minutes to prepare as you will go put him back about 100x but after a week he will get it and you will only have to put him on his spot a few times each meal. Staying on a spot is a very valuable skill to have, might be worth taking the time 3x a day to work on this.
> 
> Some dogs are always starving. I was surprised that 42 pound Sassy didn't actually finish off the 40 pound bag of kibble her stupid humans left within reach one time. Maybe there wasn't enough water to go with it. I never paid any attention to her food seeking, if she was ribby she got more food, if a bit 'fluffy' she got less.


We do the freezing with Henry - if he starts to jump up we just stop putting the food out, then as soon as he sits down again we continue with getting the food ready.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Kathyy said:


> I would stop fixing his food but just freeze while he is mouthing off rather than put the dish down and walking away. Once he shuts up start measuring and mixing again. 5 minutes is too long for a 4 month old pup to process.
> 
> You might start having him sit and wait in a spot while you prepare his meals. The first few times it will take 10 minutes to prepare as you will go put him back about 100x but after a week he will get it and you will only have to put him on his spot a few times each meal. Staying on a spot is a very valuable skill to have, might be worth taking the time 3x a day to work on this.


This is basically what I do anytime the dogs get too pushy over anything. Want to have breakfast? Sit or stand and wait a minute for me to make it. Otherwise it is just going to take longer. Want to go for a walk? Don't jump on me and run around in circles, sit or stand and wait because otherwise I'm just going to stand there with the leash behind my back until you do. Very calm, very relaxed, just basically "nope, not getting anything until you're calm"



Spirit_of_Cotons said:


> Interesting that your vet said to cut the dry food when my vet said that wet food causes dogs to gain weight, oh well. Don't throw food his way either as you're just reinforcing his behavior. You're telling your dog it's okay to nudge and bark.


Barring some odd disease, more calories eaten than calories burned cause weight gain, in humans or dogs (and cats, and horses, etc). 
Wet food has a lot of moisture so the the calories in a given volume are less which means it can make the dog feel a bit more "full" than the same calorie count of dry food. Makes it easier to cut back on the dry food than the wet food to cut a few calories out of a meal without the dog feeling like he has an empty stomach.


----------



## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Shell said:


> Barring some odd disease, more calories eaten than calories burned cause weight gain, in humans or dogs (and cats, and horses, etc).
> Wet food has a lot of moisture so the the calories in a given volume are less which means it can make the dog feel a bit more "full" than the same calorie count of dry food. Makes it easier to cut back on the dry food than the wet food to cut a few calories out of a meal without the dog feeling like he has an empty stomach.


Unless your dog is more inclined to eat the wet-food because it tastes yummy for them, OR they are mixing the wet and dry which means the volume doesn't change much, it just... sticks calories all over the outside of the kibble, kind of like gravy.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

CptJack said:


> Unless your dog is more inclined to eat the wet-food because it tastes yummy for them, OR they are mixing the wet and dry which means the volume doesn't change much, it just... sticks calories all over the outside of the kibble, kind of like gravy.


But "wet food causes dogs to gain weight" isn't true in and of itself. Calories cause weight gain. Of course if you (a person) are over feeding a dog and they gobble up the wet food then overeating causes weight gain, but not wet food. Just "tasty" food fed in too large of portions. Mixing wet and dry will cause the volume and calories to equal the total of the two parts, so it may be just a little extra from the wet food which makes the kibble tastier (but serving the right amount of kibble still doesn't cause weight gain) or it may be too much total which means too many calories (which could happen mixing two tasty kibble together)

If a dog needs to gain weight, then any tasty food will assist in the dog gaining weight by eating more calories (ask any human confronted with their favorite yummy foods how much they eat  )


----------



## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Shell said:


> But "wet food causes dogs to gain weight" isn't true in and of itself. Calories cause weight gain. Of course if you (a person) are over feeding a dog and they gobble up the wet food then overeating causes weight gain, but not wet food. Just "tasty" food fed in too large of portions. Mixing wet and dry will cause the volume and calories to equal the total of the two parts, so it may be just a little extra from the wet food which makes the kibble tastier (but serving the right amount of kibble still doesn't cause weight gain) or it may be too much total which means too many calories (which could happen mixing two tasty kibble together)
> 
> If a dog needs to gain weight, then any tasty food will assist in the dog gaining weight by eating more calories (ask any human confronted with their favorite yummy foods how much they eat  )



I agree! I was just trying to reason out why the vet's advice may have been to cut the wet food.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

CptJack said:


> I agree! I was just trying to reason out why the vet's advice may have been to cut the wet food.


I figured as much but in case the vet really did think wet food calories somehow worked really differently than dry food calories (I'm excluding getting nit-picky about protein vs fat vs carbs etc), then it is nice to be clear.

Chester needed to lose a few winter pounds so I put him on a freeze dried and raw diet in part because I wanted to cut carbs and in part because the water volume made him feel full (hounds do love their food after all) and he lost about 5 lbs without being annoying or pushy over his food. Lots of water in that diet. He loves the food but doesn't inhale it like kibble so the time to slurp and chew it helps make him feel like he is really eating I think.


----------



## Thane Teddy (Jul 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your comments! I will try the freeze method for his next meal. At first I was walking out of the room but then he was barking about that. Then the past few days, I decided to do something different, which was to put HIM outside the kitchen door. Sometimes it worked - the first time, I think he was so shocked that he got kicked out of the kitchen, so he just sat there pretty stunned. But that didn`t work all the time.

So from today on, we will try "the freeze" out. Thanks for the responses, all very helpful and gives me something to think about.


----------



## Deamian (Aug 26, 2013)

Oh my this is a perfect opportunity for gaining respect  All of our dogs use elevated feeders now, but even the 1st gen would have to SIT, and wait for the word OK before they could eat it was amazing, something they were so excited for they would still respect us as their food source and wait for the go ahead.


----------



## johnmcleren (Aug 21, 2013)

In my opinion, by barking he may be showing you his affection and loyalty, but it can be any other reason too. I would like to suggest you that go through this URL, it may surely help you with his barking.

http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/problembehaviors/5-tips-for-handling-nuisance-barking


----------



## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

I have my dog stay in a down while I get his food ready and then he has to stay in a down until I give him a release command. If he breaks the down, I simply set the food aside until he's ready to stay in his down or pick it back up and start again. After a few repeats of this, he stays in his down very well even when he's hungry. For us, it's a great time to practice impulse control.

As far as nuisance barking in general, I treat it a lot like nippping with a combination of ignoring the dog and timeouts. It just takes time for a puppy to learn that barking isn't going to get him attention and that can be particularly hard to teach when you're also teaching potty training since often you need to watch and listen for signals the dog needs to go out. At 4 months, they still have puppy brains.


----------



## 3doglady (Jul 31, 2011)

mcdavis said:


> We do the freezing with Henry - if he starts to jump up we just stop putting the food out, then as soon as he sits down again we continue with getting the food ready.


^^^ this ^^^

Can you cut his dry kibble in half and use the other half as training treats? (use one whole meal for training)


----------



## Thane Teddy (Jul 27, 2013)

3doglady said:


> ^^^ this ^^^
> 
> Can you cut his dry kibble in half and use the other half as training treats? (use one whole meal for training)


Yes we did that, the vet suggested it when she weighed him. I will see her again in about 2 weeks. I know he has gotten heavier because I can feel it when I pick him up (my back is killing me) but he is a puppy and is supposed to grow right? He is hardly fat.

Somebody mentioned that I should prepare his mail before time and so this morning for breakfast I got up earlier and prepared his breakfast before I took him out of his kennel and brought him down for his walk. So this morning, we got by without starting off the day with him barking and me being under pressure to hurry up.....makes it a much more pleasant morning for both of us.

It amazes me that some things that are so obvious do not occur to me :redface:


----------



## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

I did the freezing thing tonight with Faxon and it worked, the barking/craziness was definitely minimized... awesome


----------

