Encouraging a pup to eat from her bowl

We're having a problem with our 6 month old pup. She has become really fussy with her food. We started her on Iams puppy but after reading up on dog food, changed over to Vet's Kitchen with sardines or salmon twice a week. The problem we have is that she won't just eat from her bowl - we have to pick up the food and hand feed her. I have tried just leaving the food but she'll happily go without rather than eat from the bowl.
Any tips?

Mmmm don't know! When Tonks was little she initially wouldn't eat from the bowl unless someone was stood next to her and I gradually moved away over a couple of days until she was more confidence.

When you say she'll go with out...how long does she go without for?

She'll go all day. I've probably given in too quickly just because I'm worried she needed to eat. Perhaps I just have to toughen up and stick to my guns.

I may be wrong but I wouldn't have thought that she would starve herself! Try maybe sitting it her floor next to her bowl and start off with hand feeding next to he bowl, and move your hand nearer her bowl, then hand feeding with your hand in the bowl, move the food gradually to the end of your hand, then put it in the bowl leaving your hand very near the bowl and gradually move your hand away. Make sure she is really hungry and the food is really smelly. I don't know vets kitchen, is it wet or dry? If it is dry then try adding a small amount of sardine to it each day so it's really smelly. I would move through those stages fairly quickly giving gentle praise when she eats. I have a vague feeling I had to do it with one dog but I can't remember which one but I did find that they were better if I wasn't directly looking at them while they ate. I looked away sideways as if I was distracted by something.

I would have thought you could get her eating from her own bowl within a couple of days as long as you don't make too much of a fuss about it and are matter of fact...making sure that you don't try to make her eat more than she wants.

Thanks for your replies. I'll give that a go. I'm sure she'll be fine in no time - I'm probably just an overprotective mamma!

My dog won't eat from any bowl put straight on the tiles - she hates the noise it makes if it moves. In a stand or a bowl with rubber rim she is OK. However she chucks half the kibble out before eating some.

I was wondering if it would work if you stopped putting her food in it and just used it to put a favourite treat or tid bit into for a while. She if she will eat those from it and then try a little food at a time?

I like that idea Tangutia - Thanks!
What a nice helpful bunch you are on this forum!

Hi Gill first I would check the kind of bowl, is it metal/china that makes a noise when the dog eats. This problem can be made worse by a collar tag knocking against a bowl or even the dogs teeth scraping against the bowl .
Try a plastic dish or plate.

While it is ok to hand feed treats once you start hand feeding entire meals it can become a habit and the dog will learn to only eat this way.

A dog won't starve, I would put the food down without any fuss, no word no eye contact and walk away. If the food hasn't been eaten in 15 mins I would remove it and feed nothing more until the next meal.

At 6 months your puppy can be on two meals a day, I would check the amount you should be feeding and make sure you are not giving too much food.

Also consider feeding in a kong to make meals fun

The kong is a great idea. I put all bella's daily allowance of food into hers when I wanted her to lose a little weight. Took her longer to eat it, she thought it was fun and I just doled it out during the day bit at a time.

As Mini says - that's what I was saying about Bella. We say she has a 'morbid fear of crockery' but really it is because of the noise. Unfortunately, now, even if you were to hold a china dish out to her she would back away. She associates just the sight of it with the scraping noise she hates.

I honestly think she would rather starve than eat from a scrapy dish. She is obviously SO scared

She has a plastic bowl so I don't think it's that - it's the same as her water bowl and she has no problem drinking out of that. Might try the Kong too. I'm waiting on a sample pack of Eden dog food so will try a new routine with the new food.
Thanks again everyone.