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My parents dog tends to not eat his food unless they start pretending that his friend poppy, who died years ago and who used to love eating his food, is at the

by nanna 2y ago

My parents dog tends to not eat his food unless they start pretending that his friend poppy, who died years ago and who used to love eating his food, is at the door. He panics and eats up his bowl, lifting his head up anxiously to look at the door every few mouthfuls.

sova 2y ago
Poppy's here!
- nanna 2y ago
  Exactly this :)
bongodongobob 2y ago
That's kind of fucked up. They're reinforcing the fact that he should be worried about his food. They're training him to be anxious. If he doesn't want to eat, there's no reason to make him. He'll eat when he's hungry.
- dboreham 2y ago
  Perhaps once it's in the model, it's so hard to re-train that the animal will starve itself in service of the training data?
  - morkalork 2y ago
    I'm pretty sure if you leave a dog alone with a bowl of food long enough, they'll eat it.
  - jjtheblunt 2y ago
    natural selection i think overrides that idea, but i also thought the same idea at first, and we have 5 rescues, so i should know better.
  - bongodongobob 2y ago
    That's absurd. My dog likes to drink "outside water" so much to the point where he won't drink out of his bowl. After we come back for a walk he wants to run to the back yard and drink out of his puddle. I don't want him to do that. So I don't let him out. He'll whine a bit and paw at the door but eventually he gives up and drinks out of his bowl. Not dying from thirst or lack of food is an instinct that every living organism has.
- margalabargala 2y ago
  I don't disagree, especially if they do that every day. There are some times when as humans, we have knowledge that the dog needs to eat now, because they won't have a chance later, for example if going on some trip with the dog where feeding later would be inconvenient. In those cases it's useful to have this trick available.
  - SkyPuncher 2y ago
    Or, you just skip a meal. Dog won’t die from being hungry.
    - margalabargala 2y ago
      For a road trip, sure. If you're going on a very long hike, dog will be very unhappy without those calories.
- nutrie 2y ago
  Dogs aren't exactly wild animals. They've picked up lots of bad habits along the way, due to selective breeding, not having to hunt for food, and whatnot. I used to have a caucasian shepherd, among other dogs we've had in our family, and as she started aging, it had become gradually quite difficult to keep her weight in check. "Forcing" her eat less and more frequently did the trick. She had hip dysplasia, so it was either this or put her to sleep. She got used to it eventually. Some dogs tend to overeat (apparently labradors have a problem here, some boxers too, from top of my head), some don't. Letting them choose may or may not be the right strategy. The owner should be smart and responsible enough to figure it out. But that's a different issue altogether.
  - admax88qqq 2y ago
    All your examples were about dogs overeating, which I don't think anyone would disagree dogs can do. But I think it's pretty rare for dogs to under eat and to need to trick them into eating their food.
    - nutrie 2y ago
      It's not uncommon at all. Take toothache, for example. The catch is they can't tell you, and we are terrible at reading the subtle signs.
      - wizzwizz4 2y ago
        Some dogs can communicate such things. Bunny (of What About Bunny) can vaguely, imprecisely, communicate "some kind of pain somewhere" using a button-activated buzzer system. She can sometimes name the approximate location of the pain after a minute or two of thought. (See https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=RN_ZpyS6Fkc&t=34 https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=RN_ZpyS6Fkc&t=34 ) I have no idea how you'd get "I'm in pain" from the associated body language; but, then again, I'm not a dog. In this case there were behavioural cues, but I don't know how I'd tell if there weren't.
        082349872349872 2y ago
jasoneckert 2y ago
My dog (who recently passed away at the age of 13) used to do something similar. When she was a puppy, she spilled her food bowl and I swept it up with a broom. And since then, whenever we wanted her to eat her food, we'd just bring out the broom and start sweeping the kitchen floor - she'd immediately start eating her food, watching the broom nervously, because she's seen it eat her food before.
- risenshinetech 2y ago
  Why were you forcing your dog to eat food?
- SuperHeavy256 2y ago
  "because she's seen it eat her food before" adorable!
- nanna 2y ago
  Condolences. Losing a dog of thirteen years is heartbreaking

by nanna 2y ago

sova 2y ago

Poppy's here!

nanna 2y ago
Exactly this :)

bongodongobob 2y ago

That's kind of fucked up. They're reinforcing the fact that he should be worried about his food. They're training him to be anxious. If he doesn't want to eat, there's no reason to make him. He'll eat when he's hungry.

dboreham 2y ago
Perhaps once it's in the model, it's so hard to re-train that the animal will starve itself in service of the training data?
- morkalork 2y ago
  I'm pretty sure if you leave a dog alone with a bowl of food long enough, they'll eat it.
- jjtheblunt 2y ago
  natural selection i think overrides that idea, but i also thought the same idea at first, and we have 5 rescues, so i should know better.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  That's absurd. My dog likes to drink "outside water" so much to the point where he won't drink out of his bowl. After we come back for a walk he wants to run to the back yard and drink out of his puddle. I don't want him to do that. So I don't let him out. He'll whine a bit and paw at the door but eventually he gives up and drinks out of his bowl. Not dying from thirst or lack of food is an instinct that every living organism has.
margalabargala 2y ago
I don't disagree, especially if they do that every day. There are some times when as humans, we have knowledge that the dog needs to eat now, because they won't have a chance later, for example if going on some trip with the dog where feeding later would be inconvenient. In those cases it's useful to have this trick available.
- SkyPuncher 2y ago
  Or, you just skip a meal. Dog won’t die from being hungry.
  - margalabargala 2y ago
    For a road trip, sure. If you're going on a very long hike, dog will be very unhappy without those calories.
nutrie 2y ago
Dogs aren't exactly wild animals. They've picked up lots of bad habits along the way, due to selective breeding, not having to hunt for food, and whatnot. I used to have a caucasian shepherd, among other dogs we've had in our family, and as she started aging, it had become gradually quite difficult to keep her weight in check. "Forcing" her eat less and more frequently did the trick. She had hip dysplasia, so it was either this or put her to sleep. She got used to it eventually. Some dogs tend to overeat (apparently labradors have a problem here, some boxers too, from top of my head), some don't. Letting them choose may or may not be the right strategy. The owner should be smart and responsible enough to figure it out. But that's a different issue altogether.
- admax88qqq 2y ago
  All your examples were about dogs overeating, which I don't think anyone would disagree dogs can do. But I think it's pretty rare for dogs to under eat and to need to trick them into eating their food.
  - nutrie 2y ago
    It's not uncommon at all. Take toothache, for example. The catch is they can't tell you, and we are terrible at reading the subtle signs.
    - wizzwizz4 2y ago
      Some dogs can communicate such things. Bunny (of What About Bunny) can vaguely, imprecisely, communicate "some kind of pain somewhere" using a button-activated buzzer system. She can sometimes name the approximate location of the pain after a minute or two of thought. (See https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=RN_ZpyS6Fkc&t=34 https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=RN_ZpyS6Fkc&t=34 ) I have no idea how you'd get "I'm in pain" from the associated body language; but, then again, I'm not a dog. In this case there were behavioural cues, but I don't know how I'd tell if there weren't.
      - 082349872349872 2y ago

jasoneckert 2y ago

My dog (who recently passed away at the age of 13) used to do something similar. When she was a puppy, she spilled her food bowl and I swept it up with a broom. And since then, whenever we wanted her to eat her food, we'd just bring out the broom and start sweeping the kitchen floor - she'd immediately start eating her food, watching the broom nervously, because she's seen it eat her food before.

risenshinetech 2y ago
Why were you forcing your dog to eat food?
SuperHeavy256 2y ago
"because she's seen it eat her food before" adorable!
nanna 2y ago
Condolences. Losing a dog of thirteen years is heartbreaking