Missy Wont Eat Her Food Over Her Dish! Help!

Hiya all,

Its been quite a long time since we posted on here. For a quick refresh we have a now 1 year old doberman x called Missy. We are unsure what she is crossed with as we got her from a rescue centre and they were unsure.

Anyway, in the early stages we struggled with a crate. She wouldnt settle in it at all and ended up eating her way out of her argos crate! I am pleased to say 6 months down the line she is perfect in the crate in every way.

The one main problem we are having now is her feeding. We feed her in the kitchen and she continues to grab mouthfuls of food and walk into the front room, spit them out and eat it in there! The carpet needs a good clean but I arent doing it until we can get her to eat over her bowl.

She has just returned from a weeks training and can now walk perfectly on a lead (with halter). The trainer told us that the only way to deal with the food thing is removal. So what I do is put her bowl down and she then immediately takes a mouthful of food and runs off into the living room, so I take the bowl up so when she returns for another mouthful it is no longer there. I do this 3 times in the space of about 20 mins and if she continues to run off with the food I remove it completely. I am on day 1 of this and already feel bad I have had to remove her food completely. She will get fed again this evening when I will try the removal thing again but if she does it again 3 times I will have to emove it until tomorrow. Apparently she will be that hungry this evening that she will not leave her food until it has all gone next time (hopefully anyway!)

Has anyone else experienced this?

Did you handle it by the removal technique?

Any advice would be most appreciated as always

We have exactly the same thing! I did not think anyone else's dog would do it - but I was wrong.
In our case - when we go out Syds is left in the kitchen and so I believe that she moves her food because she does not want to be eating in the kitchen, look up and find the stair gate locked and us gone!!
She hates being on her own, although we do deal with this - she is not a barker but will chew anything we leave lying around as our penance.

I must admit I have not thought of doing anything about it. She is on dry food and so a quick hoover does the trick. She does not do it for every meal, just when she thinks, for whatever doggy reason, that we might be about to go out.

She will also do the same with her toys, the minute we get home from being out and open the kitchen gate, all the toys come out - in case we think about her going in there again!!

Sorry, not much help at all but I was interested to read that Syds is not the only one!

Sorry Roper I cant really help you with the food as Roxy eats her dinner in the lounge (in the elevated bowls), but nice to see you on here again, would love to see some update photos of Missy

where did she go for training? Interested to hear experience about sending her somewhere to be trained.

Can't you shut the kitchen door, so she can't get out of the room with food in her mouth??????????????

Alternative, if it's kibble, can't you feed her with it, until she learns she's got to stay with the bowl of food???

If it was my dog I would try both of these. The first being the easiest option and kinder for the lounge carpet! Good luck.

Can you feed her somewhere that she can't transport it, maybe outside. I wouldn't give her any chances with it as all you will be teaching her is that she can come back three times, if something is unacceptable then it is so right from the begining not after so many times. If you are at home try feeding her three times a day (you will waste less then hopefully) put the dish down, if she walks away from it then remove it until the next time she is due a feed. I promise you she won't starve to death but dog's need to understand who is in control of the food and it should never be them

Good luck

If, for some reason you don't want to shut the door from kitchen to sitting room then buy a child gate and keep it shut while she has her meal. I would also be inclined to provide her with a small piece of matting, just to see if it is the room she doesn't like or the floor, It could be a hangover from something in the rescue kennels, do you know if she was in a kennel by herself or did she have to share the space and food bowl with another dog? Kath

Oh my Charlie is the same, right pain in the arris!

Hi Roper maybe in her past life your dog was fed with a number of dogs so had to grab some food and take it elsewhere to get her portion, or maybe she was scared in some way when eating from her dish.


I would try putting the empty bowl down and adding a tiny amount of food like a tablespoon at a time, if she eats that continue adding food until all the meal has gone.

What sort of bowl are you feeding from? Some dogs don't like metal bowls because of the noise they make and the reflection.

You could always buy a big kong and put all the meal in that