# What type of food bowl?



## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_I don't use stainless steel anymore. I read somewhere that there is some kind of chemical reaction that can cause the black in a dogs nose to fade. I use crock type bowls that are heavy and not easily chewed.

I've never heard of a puppy who refused to eat out of its bowl. I'm sure someone will have an answer for you here.
_


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## Poodle Lover (Mar 24, 2008)

littlemj said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I've had my Standard Poodle pup for 2 1/2 weeks now and he doesn't seem to want to eat out of the bowl. He will eat if I hand feed him. I'm using stainless steel bowls. Any recommendations on bowls for both food and water? I sometimes hold his ears when he drinks, so that his ears don't get wet. I tried feeding him in his crate, as your trainer suggested, but he still will only eat if I hand feed him. Thanks in advance for all suggestions and advice.
> 
> Julie


The problem is not with the kind of bowl you are using, it's with your pup being picky.  I bet if you tried a ceramic or a glass bowl the results would be the same. It sounds like your puppy is doing an excellent job training you. The reason I know is because my little 12 lb Havanese was the world class manipulator and I learned the hard way. I kept changing his his food, adding thing to his food, cooking, giving him raw and finally he would refused it all. I finally listen to the advice given to me by the breeder. I first decided what food I wanted to feed (I alternate between home cooked and raw), I would set the food down at meal times and leave it out for 15 to 20 minutes. If he ate or not, after 20 minutes passed, I put the food away and offered nothing until the next feed. This went on for a day and a half at which point he decided that being hungry is not fun and he started eating. If you stick to your guns, your puppy will eat.

Now a few questions.

How old is your Spoo?
How often do you feed him? (I fed my spoo 3 meals a day till almost a year and then switched to twice a day)
What do you feed him?


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## jester's mom (Nov 25, 2008)

I agree with Poodle Lover, your poodle is training YOU..lol. My spoo, Grace, decided she was going to be picky about her food. She would eat a few bites then walk away if she thought it was not what she wanted. So, I left it down as long as it took for the other ones to eat, when they were done, all dishes were picked up and no meals till the night feeding. This went on for a few days, she lost a little weight but finally decided she had to eat what was given or not eat. Her favorite meal is when I boil fish and add that to the meal, but she has learned that if she doesn't eat what is given, she doesn't eat till next meal. Dogs are VERY smart, if they can get away with teaching you what they want, they will.


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

Very much in agreement that your the one being trained here lol. The only thing that pops to my mind with a dog not wanting to eat out of their bowl would be if the bowl itself was to large, I wouldn't think this would be an issue for a spoo puppy though but just in case, how deep is the bowl you're using? 

I'm a stainless fan myself, put those babies in the dishwasher every other day, I have a ton of them. Though if you had a ceramic or crock type bowl you can probably still find one that is dishwasher safe so you can clean it. 

Only time my dogs are hand fed is for training. Otherwise they are timmed in how long they have to eat, if they are hungry they eat, if not I take it away and they can try again at dinner time or tomarrow as the case may be. 

That said with a young puppy you won't want to let them skip very many meals if they decide to be stubborn so what I do is give my picky eaters nutrical to stimulate their appetite, usualy works ok. Plus it has some nutrition in it so it keeps their energy and blood sugar up.


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## Roxy (Apr 4, 2008)

Julie, I agree with the others, I feed in stainless and my boy never ate out of my hands. Don't get in that habit or you will have a long road ahead of you. Eventually they will get hungry and over the pickiness. Are you using the same puppy food that the breeder used?


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## littlemj (Apr 21, 2009)

When you say that stainless steel bowls may fade their nose, do you mean the actual nose, or the fur around the nose? The reason I ask, is that my spoo's fur around the nose is starting to look brown, not black.
Thanks


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