why is my dog barking at his food? (surgery, teeth, diet)

[rjgonsalves]

Hi. We have an 11 year old pug who has recently (for about a month now) started barking at his food bowl when we feed him. He does usually bark when it's dinnertime and he wants to eat, but now he barks while eating also. We put food in his bowl, he looks at it and barks. He eats a little, then barks a lot. He'll eat more, then back away and bark again. This repeats until he is finished. I don't know if something is wrong with him-i.e. it's painful to eat (he is missing some teeth, although his teeth were missing prior to this) or does he not like his food anymore? He had a surgery and more teeth removed recently and he was on antibiotics so we were feeding him a different diet (chicken and rice) for a week to accommodate that, but he was doing this before. It seems to be worse now, though. Any ideas?

[Sam I Am]

I'd guess it was uncomfortable before he had his teeth removed, and probably as much or more so now. Plus, he's gotten that wonderful chicken and rice...like, who wants to go back to dog food???

At 11 years old I'd just try the chicken and rice with kibble or whatever you feed in it, maybe softened with a little chicken broth. Gradually reduce the "people food" if you want him back on dog food, but you may always have to put a little broth on it. Might try some yogurt, too, to soften it up - just a spoonful or so and let it sit for a little bit before feeding.

[riveree]

If he's not barking at any other inanimate objects (it's only the food), then I agree with Sam, it might be painful for him to eat.

If he was barking at other inanimate objects, then it could be dementia/senility creeping in.

[ESFP]

Who knows what a dog is thinking, eh? Dogs usually bark because they get some reaction. Mailmen come to the door, the dog barks, and the mailman leaves immediately. The dog thinks he's triumphant. Maybe your dog is quelling the food. Try changing the reaction. When he barks, remove the food completely. Put it back in a while, and remove it if he barks again. He'll see the reaction isn't what he wants and maybe stop. Let us know what you decide, please.

[maggiekate]

try cooking boiled hamburg and then rice. then feed him this and see if the barking
still happens. if not, then maybe he is un happy with food. if he still barks, food is not the issue.

[RoaminRed]

My dog barks at weird things too. When the dvd player goes on standby, it puts a moving ball on the screen with a logo in it. My dog will stand and bark at this unless I tell her not to. She will also bark down the air intake for the furnace, I assume because it echos and she "thinks" there's another dog down there. She also will bark at animated characters on a computer screen.

Dogs are weird. Anyway, nothing intellectual to add here, the other posters seem to have covered it. LOL

[chick]

Is it a metal pan? Maybe seeing his reflection in the pan. My male sometimes does it when drinking water, and I know he is seeing his reflection. His food dish is solid not metal.

Meerkat manor on the big screen tv drives my dogs crazy. They run to look behind the tv for the meers.

[deegers]

oh, chick, that's a good suggestion. Reflection of dog on pan, hmmm. That makes much more sense than painful mouth, but all of these are options nonetheless. ESFP has a good idea of trying to change the behavior. That's a tough call.

[dynimagelv]

That is not a question that can be answered.....dawgs do not feel the need to explain themselves to those of us beneath them. [this possibly explains why they chase their tails]

the only living being with less interest in offering explanations is a cat.

[eman resue]

My freak-dog does the same thing! Only she will bring me a mouthfull and barks at it. I found if I "KILL" (by mock stamping) the threatening kibble she will happily gobble it down. Now I pre-kill the food in bowl and she is a happy camper. T