My dog is not eating

Question
hi Patti. I have a few questions and I would be so Happy if you could answer all. You see my dog is a German Shepherd. But when we give him dog food he doesn't eat it.  We go back to check if he ate any but the bowl wasn't touched!So can you tell me why he is not eating! My other question is his aggression! He starts to bark for no reason. tell me why he does that!

Answer
Hi Brian,

Do you happen to feed your dog table scraps? Some dogs that are fed table scraps learn that they can "hold out" for something better.
If this is the case, give your dog his food, let it sit on the floor for 15 minutes, and then pick it up. No treats, no snacks, nothing, until the next feeding time, when you put his food down again.

If the problem isn't table scrapes, try warming your dog's food a little. Warm food releases more odors, so it might entice your dog into eating. Mixing a little hard boiled egg into his regular food may also jump-start him into eating.

You didn't say if your dog is drinking water or not. Not drinking is actually more serious than not eating. A dog can safely go for a few days without food, but not drinking can lead to dehydration, which can cause a domino effect leading to some very serious conditions. If your dog isn't drinking call your vet, and try to get him to drink a little warm (low fat/sodium) chicken soup.

The only problem with the symptom of not eating, is that there are a huge number of possibilities and it can be very difficult to sort through all of them.

Sometimes a dog that is overweight will stop eating briefly in an attempt to regulate it's weight.

Will your dog take food from your hand? You can start by hand feeding him, and see if you can end by getting him to eat from his bowl.

Start with the simple stuff; if this is new behavior, tooth or gum problems are possible. Examining him to make sure she isn't retaining baby teeth (if your dog is young) or has any cracked teeth. Check that his gums are not really irritated.

Some of the things that come to mind with dogs that are very picky about eating, include intestinal worms, other intestinal parasites, food allergies, problems with any organ system (kidneys, heart, liver) and Addison's disease. I am sure there are many other possibilities.

If he does not come around quickly and begin to be willing to eat dog food or if you see any signs that there may be more wrong (weight loss, gum disease, etc.) then it's time to have your vet examine him.

As far as the barking goes, it's not necessarily aggression. Here are a couple of websites that might help:

http://placervillevet.com/training_your_dog_to_stop_barking.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_14259_stop-dogs-excessive.html

http://www.petcaretips.net/how-train-dog-stop-barking.html

Best of luck,
Patti