Playing dead at dinner....

[goforette]

We've been having trouble at meal times with Brystal now for probably 2 months or more - it's this silly little game she continues to play. And now it's advanced to playing dead next to her bowl. It's funny, but getting old quickly. She waits until Hollie is completely done eating before she'll even look at a bowl of food, then she'll approach her bowl but then roll over and play dead next to it - and will stay that way until Hollie will come to see if she's still alive then flips over real quick and hovers her bowl - but doesn't eat it. Then Hollie will walk away bored with the situation and Brystal will flip over and play dead again until Hollie will come around... I need a dog psychologist.

[pkcrossley]

does she ever eat at all????

[mrskti]

we have basically the same thing here. Ellie eats her food up in seconds, while dori sits on her cushion waiting for ellie to be done so she can gloat that she still has food! Then ellie will approach Dori's crate, then dori gets up next to her dish, not eating just guarding it for a bit, then she will finally eat. It's weird. When i'm fixing their food, Ellie is at my heal, while Dori has heard the clanking of dishes, she heads straight to her crate and perches on her cushion and waits like a prissy little girl on her tuffet!!!!

[Jessica H]

My 2 are the same. Sadie eats her food within seconds. Scooter could care less about eating. Sometimes I have to put his bowl on the counter so she doesn't eat it and he usually isn't overly concerned with her taking it. Sometimes he'll guard it but she's so fast and he has better things to do that she'll eat half if it before he notices. Most of the times I take a few pieces of food and throw it so Scoot will chase it, then its a game and he'll come over and eat. He always eats his food but he's in no rush. I feel like if it wasn't for her being a food hound he would take 3 hours to eat 1/2 cup of food...

[goforette]

Eventually Brystal will eat - but it takes sometimes 1/2 hour to an hour of this drama/game thing - we've tried everything from separating the two - to letting Brystal eat first - she's just got these huge quirks over meal time. The playing dead thing is new - however within the last week - I really need to video tape it - as who has ever heard of a dog rolling over and playing dead next to a full bowl of food and then sprinting up on all fours just to hover it when the other dog approaches - not to eat it just to guard it -

[jimnconnie]

How funny! It sounds like she is not really food driven, and has just found this new game that makes meal time a lot more fun. She'll probably get over it when Hollie doesn't come around anymore. Hope you can get a pic of her when she does it again.

[pkcrossley]

new meaning to "passive aggressive." i think your cairn has a sense of humor about the dominance thing. clearly she is the submissive one (or knows she is perceived that way), so she is satirizing the whole thing. she'll probably mail order a set of leg-irons for herself and show up in those at dinner time. very funny.

she's teasing the other dog. if she manages to get a rise out of her (doesn't sound like that is happening), she may begin to think that she is really in control...

[Napi'smom]

my does not play dead yet but would not surprise me to see him doing the same any day... he does the same... guards the food but won't eat... sometimes I have to leave for work and he still has not eaten and it drives me nuts!!

his new thing is now EVERY Morning for the last week he goes under the bed in the guest room and I have to put the dish under the bed, he then does the covering up deal and after I leave the room I can hear him chomping!!!

[Jessica H]

I just think this is the funniest thing, I would love to see her play dead. I can picture it in my head and it makes me laugh. I'd love to see a picture of this! LOL.

[goforette]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that has a dog that just isn't serious about meal time. In the beginning I worried terribly that she was ill or that she didn't like the food - I went over all the possibilities until I realized this is a sport to her. This weekend I'm going to take some pictures of her playing dead and then springing back up to just hover the bowl - she'll do this over and over until Hollie gets bored out of her mind with her and walks away. Then she'll sit there and look at me like what I gave her is insufficient... I'm hoping to capture video to it. I just received a new camera as a wedding gift and it does video - but I have to learn how to use it! Would make for good test video. You all will get a very very good laugh at my silly little dog.