Eat by me!

[alschwahn]

Hi friends, long time no see, here is a photo of Aspen to make up for the time!

Our little boy is going to be 3 in April! Can you believe that? Remember when I first came to this forum thinking I was crazy for hating my adorable brand new puppy but you all helped me through it all? I owe you all such a big thanks. Now, I don't know how I ever lived without my little yellow boy.

He has been doing a weird thing lately, though. He won't eat if we just pour his kibbles in his bowl and then go on with the day. He has been wanting me to stay by him. I don't always have time to stand by him to wait for him to eat, so I will bring his bowl with me to the bathroom so I can get ready while he eats. Is this bad to do? I don't see the harm, because I wouldn't want to eat alone either. I will say that I just started working like 10-4 now after graduating, vs being home a lot when I was a student, so I am wondering if he is lonely? He is totally normal otherwise. Still pooping normally, playing normally, sleeping normally, drinking normally, etc.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Hi there! Good to see you and Aspen again!

I'll be interested in seeing answers about the eating alone thing. Personally I wouldn't be bothered about it at all. My thing is the opposite: I always stay in the room while my dog is eating. I realised this the other day and thought "Why do I do that?". It's not like he needs my help!

But if you don't want to be toting around his bowl, could you eat the same time he does? Or use the time to clean up the kitchen or whatever else you need to get accomplished there? If Aspen is any thing like Carbon, mealtime lasts only about 30 seconds anyway,

 

[Cath]

Hello @alschwahn great to see you and your darling boy again

 

[Selina27]

I don't have any answers to your questions @alschwahn , but it's always lovely to hear from you and see the gorgeous Aspen

 

[Anne123]

Finn eats in another room, kind of conservatory. He gets his breakfast and dinner while I am preparing mine in the room next to him. But Finn eats everything anywhere and doesn’t need me to accompany him.....What I would do, and is probably more ‘gut’ related than anything else, I would give the food and walk away. Take it or leave it. When hungry they will eat. I did so with my children too. They were very picky eaters. And with 4 of them not wanting to eat and me on my own as hubby was at work early mornings and late evenings, I just gave them their food. If they didn’t want to eat I left it on the table for 1 hour and then put it away. Not eaten meant no candy or biscuits...

 

[MellowYellow]

So lovely to see Aspen! He looks so like my Merlin, who will also be 3 in March.

Regarding the eating - I’d just do whatever works for you both. Yes, he may be wanting to make the most of every minute with you, with the change in his schedule.

So nice to see you both!

 

[snowbunny]

Hi again, lovely to see you back, and with an Aspen photo as tax, even better

I'm with Karen: do what works for you. Yes, he may be a bit unsettled with the change of schedule and wanting to spend as much time with you as possible. If it works to bring his bowl into the bathroom, go ahead. If it works for you to do the things Emily suggested, do that. Whatever works. It's lovely he wants to be with you. Is he OK when he's left? I was thinking another idea is to maybe freeze his breakfast into Kongs and leave them with him when you leave, so that he has something to look forward to associated with your leaving, and something to occupy a bit of his time?

 

[Atemas]

Ahh Aspen likes like a male Red . So glad all is well and I wouldn’t worry about the eating

 

[Jacqui-S]

Lovely boy. Hi again

 

[Beanwood]

Like everyone else, on the face of it, I can't see a problem with Aspen eating close to you. In this case though I would want to just check everything else is OK, especially as you have a recent change in routine. For example, is Aspen associating his breakfast with you leaving the house, therefore there is a predictive anxiety creeping in around food.

 

[kateincornwall]

Lovely to see your handsome lad again xxx Reuben will eat anywhere, but Nelly wont , she likes us to be close by , so thats what we do , no worries xx

 

[alschwahn]

Thanks for all the suggestions/replies, he is fine when we leave - he gets run of the house and usually just sleeps. We leave his crate open for him and he loves to hang out there. He’s pretty no fuss about us leaving, but funny @snowbunny said to think about Kongs because we are going to buy some new ones for him this weekend to stuff and have on hand! Hope everyone is doing well, so nice to hear from you all

 

[Lab_adore]

Hi @alschwahn - how lovely to hear from you and see an updated pic of handsome Aspen. I don't have any advice because Maxx is a total guts and will eat anything anywhere. I think it's quite lovely that he wants to be with you so much

 

[Shaz82]

What a lovely picture @alschwahn , Maisy will be 3 soon too, where does the time go?

I usually stay in the kitchen when Maisy eats, she was very picky with her food so I didn't want to distract her from eating by going in to another room when she would then follow me and stop eating. She is better now but I usually do the washing up or keep busy so she has company.

 

[edzbird]

Lovely to see handsome Aspen again, and nice to hear from you. Congratulations on your graduation & new job.

 

[HAH]

Great to see you @alschwahn , and the handsome Aspen - nearly 3 already?! You’ve always been my high benchmark ever since we’ve had Kipper huge congratulations on graduating and your new job, what are you up to?

 

[alschwahn]

Hi @Shaz82 @edzbird and @HAH! You are all quite right - time sure does fly by. Thank you much for the congratulations, and yes, I can't believe we are going to be seeing him turn 3 this year...I can't believe I used to despise him I am currently working with students who have experienced homelessness, but with the COVID-19 pandemic reaching America, we have now closed down all our schools so I didn't get to work for too long!