As detailed in a thread I’m too lazy to link to, a few months ago, on those days I bike to work, I began encountering what I first thought was an annoying yappy dog whose owners were too lazy to keep properly fenced. After a few months of tossing it hot dogs to make it less annoying, I learned that its owners had in fact abandoned it when they moved. My cousin Sam and got the dog off the property with the intent of taking it to a rescue shelter, only to have my wife veto that in favor of getting my little sister, who has a fenced yard and likes dogs, to take it in.
That was over a week ago. My sister likes the dog, whom she has named Roncesvalles for what she says are obvious reasons. But here’s the thing: while the dog will play with her, lick her face even, he won’t let her feed him–not directly. That is, he won’t take food from her hand or even eat in her presence. She has to put down a bowl of dog food and leave his sight; only then will he eat. But he WILL eat from my hand, or when I’m watching. Nobody else, though. This is inhibiting any training she wants to do.
Dog has been trained at some point to not take treats by hand; you fed him when he was hungry to the point of starving which overcame the prior training for you personally.
Give him some time. He is used to being fed by Skald the Great and Powerful Savior and Master of the Universe. The food you give him is clearly superior to that provided by other humans, and he also fears that he may incur your wrath if he is disloyal and accepts food from anyone else. After a while he’ll figure out your sister is going to give him more food than you would every time he wags his tail and assumes the adorable pose that dogs can do instinctively. Try giving your sister some food in his presence and then see if he takes it from her, he may just be waiting for your approval.
He thinks you won’t find out. It’s the way dogs are. Their behavior is different when they aren’t around their human friends.
In the dog’s mind, you, Skald, are his owner–you were his main food source for a long period of time. Keep in mind a dog has no concept of time or volume (not the loudness type); your being gone one second is the same as five years. A pea-sized piece of kibble is the same as a 5 lb steak.
Food from the hand is a reward thing, if you stop doing it, and someone else starts, the dog will eventually respond to the reward–again keeping in mind the no-sense-of-time-thingie could take two minutes or two years.
A week is a tiny portion of the break-in/settling in process a dog needs, especially an abandoned dog. The rule of thumb (this applies to most animals): if the animal is eating, drinking, sleeping and pooping, everything is fine, for the moment ;).
You may need to avoid the scene for an extended period of time to give K9 a chance to become part of your sister’s “pack.”
Just don’t rush anything concerning the critter; as much as it bothers some people, you have to go by the dog’s “schedule.” Give it all plenty of time.
Apologies for the speech–it sounds like I know what I’m talking about.
Dogs can be weird about food. And their weirdness can change over time. Some dogs are more weird than others.
My dog and my brothers’ dog have all sorts of weird food habits, and they’ve lived in the same houses with the same people all their lives. And depending on how my dog feels or what she is thinking, she might develop a weird thing for a short while then get over it, or never get over it. Weird.
I agree that it’s both nothing to worry about, and not something that would have been corrected over a week.
Also note that who eats what, when, and how is a big part of the canine social dynamic. Among dogs, it’s accepted that the Top Dog will eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and that the lower dogs eat only on suffrage of the Top Dog. He thinks that you have the authority to determine what and when he eats. Which, given the history of the past few months, isn’t that far from the truth.
The dog trust you, Skald. He doesn’t trust your sister, yet.
She should give him hot dogs, since that’s apparently the food he associates with the one he trusts. She doesn’t have to give the whole thing. She can get a frozen hot dog, dice it into bite size pieces, and then just take a couple pieces out when it’s Bonding Time. If she sits on the couch watching tv, at a regular time each day, and feeds a few pieces to the dog, the dog will come to look forward to “family time” with his new person.
If he’s going to be your sister’s dog, your sister should take over the food duties. No more food from you, at least not until he’s made the switch over to the new “pack”. Even if it’s just her putting the bowl down, and he waits until she leaves before eating, he’s still making the association.
Also agree with the “treat” idea - have your sister feed him special treats (hot dog chunks or otherwise - I’d actually suggest moving to dog biscuits at some point - hot dogs may have saved him but they probably aren’t the best all around doggie diet).
This book is really good in terms of general advice on dogs and the funny little training issues that can come up:
“Good Owners, Great Dogs” By Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson (Amazon and probably most actual bookstores)
As stated above, food is a great determiner of social order for dogs. Believe it or not, the dog waiting to eat is a good thing, it shows he is accepting a place in the pack and not challenging for alpha status. Submission is a good thing to have in a canine family member.
I’m so happy your sis took him in. May the people who abandoned him to slow death and starvation feel a bit of what they wished on him. Bastards…
