mhvonalmen8908

Doppler has recently started to do this weird thing when he eats. Virga just dives into her bowl and scarfs her food, but Doppler has to be told like 20 times to 'go get it' (we make them both wait until we say to eat). Then he'll stand at his bowl and dart his head really quick into his bowl, grab a couple of pieces of food, drop them onto the carpet and then eat the food. It's very frustrating because Virga gets done with her food and tries to check his bowl out and he growls at her. It's an every day occurrence in our house and it's getting quite old.

Now to Virga, she started limping early yesterday and it got progressively worse as the day went on. She tries to play like normal with Doppler but her leg won't support her whole weight. So she mopes around all day. I've been carrying her down the stairs and lifting her down from furniture so she won't jar it anymore. She eats, drinks, and uses the bathroom like normal. But she holds her foot up while she's sitting. I've felt her entire leg from her shoulder down to the tips of her nails. I've manipulated all of her joints with no sound from her at all. I've checked all of her pads and nothing. I'm at the end of my rope with it for right now. So she's going to the vet this afternoon.

Sorry for the long post just wanted to rant. My husband is deployed overseas so it's just me here dealing with this.

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Megan & Chris
-Mom & Dad to Doppler (2 year old Basset/Redbone/Golden mix) and Virga (1 year old Basset)

Esther

careful w that leg girl.

duder

For the food, Randolph does the same thing. Scarfs down his food and immediately tries to eat Mortimers. Morty takes his time and also does the thing where he picks a few bits and drops them in the floor.

What I did to remedy this, was to grab a few pieces out of Randolphs food and held them in my hand. Once he was done I got his attention with the bits in my hand and started tossing them one at a time down the hallway for him to find until Mort is done eating.

After a few times doing this, Randolph pays no attention to Mortimer's food. As soon as he is done eating, he walks down the hall and waits for me to toss food his way.

mhvonalmen8908

Thanks Esther. Hopefully the vet will have some advice for us. And duder that's a great idea but luckily Doppler usually just has to growl at her and she'll back off and wait for him to finish. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

__________________
Megan & Chris
-Mom & Dad to Doppler (2 year old Basset/Redbone/Golden mix) and Virga (1 year old Basset)

Annie714

Keep us posted on little Virga's leg...or is it Virga's little leg? At any rate, hope it's nothing major.

As for the food thing, Annie scarfs hers down and little Zoey has no teeth so it takes her longer. Zoey will let Annie eat anything outside of her bowl, but she will let Annie know by growling that her snout is not to actually enter the bowl until she has walked away. I leave it alone, figure they have their own hierarchy and it's none of my business so long as no one gets hurt.

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Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Esther

we liked the part on annies blog about waiting for zoey to finish... i believe, "Miss Piggy," was the term. haha

Annie714

LOL yes Esther...Miss Piggy was indeed the term

But shhh...Annie is a delicate flower who can't know that nickname

__________________
Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Esther

that's ok.
they call me "ralph" on accounta i puke a lot.

Wworm

Hiya Doppler & Virga's Mum,

Yeah, maybe what Duder is saying could work. My teacher Mrs. C hand-feeds her dogs all their meals in training sessions. (ie. using their meals for treat rewards...) Another thought... what about feeding them separately? either separate times or separate spaces perhaps... i seem to think they don't have crates, otherwise would say to try feeding in crates w/door closed. i get my yummy but messy bones in a locked crate and don't mind it because it's soooo tasty

poor Virga's leg-- please keep us posted on what happens. can't quite tell but you mentioned lifting her off furniture... i have to use doggie stairs going up and esp down from couch and bed. my person hopes it will reduce the chance of getting back/leg problems... so maybe doggie stairs..? esp since Virga's full basset (may not matter as much for Doppler since he's got long legs...)

we'd be interested in what people think of this behavior of Doppler's-- the wienie dog before me did that all the time. every time people came home, he'd grab a mouthful of dry food and run from the kitchen to the middle of the living room, and drop it, then eat piece by piece. He also did that at the end of each of his meals... what interesting behavior (but annoying here 'cause it also affects Virga..)

sorry you have to deal w/this alone human cousin is deployed overseas too.. thank you for all the sacrifices you and your husband make...

--Worm

houndmomma

What you’re describing reminds me of the way Flash eats. (or use to) She’s always been a finicky eater. For her first three years my husband use to spoon feed her. That is, till I finally put my food down because we couldn’t ever plan anything around dinner time because really, who could we ask to feed our kids and then tell them they had to spoon feed them. They would think we we’re crazier than they already do.

Anyway, getting her to eat by herself was quite a challenge – one of the things she liked to do was flipping her bowl across the room, then she would eat the food off the floor. I finally was able to find a kind of tray that was weighted and too flat to the ground for her to flip. But she does exactly what your guy is doing; she’ll lay there and stare it for what seems like forever – I don’t know how many times a night, every night I have to tell her to eat, then she’ll finally start eating one little chuck at a time. When she’s done it’s a hoot – she comes running over so happy with a “look what I did mom look” and I have to tell her how proud I am of her.

I hate to say, it’s been like that for as long as I can remember until just recently when she got sick – and she’s now back to being spoon feed. We have an L shape counter in our kitchen –I feed Lucy on one side and Flash on the side that we eat at. Lucy has just learned, don’t come near Flash when she’s having her stare down with her food.

I hope for her leg you find out what’s wrong soon and it’s a quick easy fix for whatever it is.

Here is a photo of Flash doing her stare down on the tray I mentioned -

Jen~

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