Silly Newbie Question!

[Guest Stripeyfan]

If it's a day when we're both home (DH and me), about 3/4 in the afternoon after he's had his walk and crashed out on his floor cushion for a bit, Kelly will start whinging/whining and STARING at us. If one of us gets up to go into the kitchen he's there like lightning, and sits where he usually waits when we're getting his food ready (his evening meal is at 5pm). He never does this at any other time of day and definitely doesn't seem to be in pain, so I'm guessing it's because he's hungry...? Sorry if it's a silly question but we're totally new to dogs, never mind greys, so we're still trying to figure out what all these things mean!

[silverfish]

Yep, sounds like he's hungry!

 

I'd look on it as a training opportunity. Get yourself some tasty treats in and use them at this time of day to 'mark' desirable behaviour. For instance, if you have one ready in your pocket when you go into the kitchen, you can call him 'Kelly, come!' (he's going to do that anyway, right?) and give him a treat when he reaches you. Actually, in this circumstance, since he'll be up long before you get there, I might use 'Kelly, comealong!' to distinguish it from the standard 'come' command. This one will mean, 'I'm moving now and I want you to move with me'. It doesn't matter if you will want to use this command in the future or not (but trust me, there are times it will be handy) it's just something to use to mark compliance and treat him for. Later, when he knows more commands, you can ask him to 'wait', or 'sit', or 'speak' for his treats.

 

Actually, you could work on 'speak' right now, if it's something you want him to be able to do. When he starts to whine, encourage him by saying 'Kelly, speak!', then when he does his next whine (right on cue, I'm betting), treat him to mark the behaviour. You can use whatever command word you like, but do use his name first, it helps them realise you're actually talking to them. We're noisy creatures, us humans, and it can be hard for a dog to pick out the bits he's supposed to listen to.

 

But also, if he's hungry, you might want to add a bit more food into his day somewhere. By all means, give him all the extra food as rewards in training, but until he knows enough, perhaps a bit more breakfast?

 

And, by the way, he sounds like a very bright dog - he's halfway to training you! This is actually a good thing - not that you should let him train you, but it means he's motivated to get things done, and that's a HUGE help in shaping a dog's behaviour.. He should be a joy to train!

[jetcitywoman]

My Capri does this too. Her dinner time is at 6:30, but she starts to get antsy and whiney around 4 - 4:30. Our routine is to go for evening walkies before dinner, so I just know that she's either sick of napping and ready for a walk or hungry. Or most likely both.

 

100% agree with what Silverfish said. One thing to be careful of, though... don't let him use this behavior to manipulate you into increasingly earlier dinnertimes or into feeding him so much he gets overweight. Be sure to monitor his general food intake each day, including training treats. I don't think you need to keep a food diary or anything that extreme, just be conscious of how much food goes into his mouth. Also be aware that training treats tend to be very high calorie.

 

To some extent another good thing to teach him is patience, and this is a good opportunity for that. Make him wait quietly for a few minutes before he gets what he wants. This is very important mental exercise for dogs. Waiting at the door and sitting/waiting to be fed are the same principal.

[Guest SusanP]

You could also try free-feeding so he can eat when he's hungry, though I know there are drawbacks to this method at times.

[Guest kydie]

Yep, hungrey, I give an afternoon treat time, this is the time when I give teeth cleaning goodies, like bully sticks

[Guest Stripeyfan]

He does love his food!! (Don't think the worms we're trying to get rid of have helped either, though I won't go into that now as I've posted on H&M about those enough already... ) I was thinking of maybe giving him part of his daily 'ration' in the early afternoon so his stomach isn't so empty - space his food out a bit more through the day. Don't dare free-feed as he would eat the lot IMMEDIATELY then want more later (thanks for the suggestion though). And no, he isn't getting early dinners, sadly for him! We try to keep to a pretty strict routine with him. Will definitely give the training thing a try as he does seem to pick things up very quickly. Thanks for all the advice!

[Guest SoulsMom]

Happens here too. Normally they eat about five, but on the weekends they start bugging me around three

[Guest happygrey]

He does love his food!! (Don't think the worms we're trying to get rid of have helped either, though I won't go into that now as I've posted on H&M about those enough already... ) I was thinking of maybe giving him part of his daily 'ration' in the early afternoon so his stomach isn't so empty - space his food out a bit more through the day. Don't dare free-feed as he would eat the lot IMMEDIATELY then want more later (thanks for the suggestion though). And no, he isn't getting early dinners, sadly for him! We try to keep to a pretty strict routine with him. Will definitely give the training thing a try as he does seem to pick things up very quickly. Thanks for all the advice!

 

We are newbie owners and our guy came to us with worms as well (he was also a little underweight). He was SO hungry all of the time. He really seemed like he was starving so we started giving him lunch. So now he gets his total daily food split into 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner). It definitely seems to have helped! He no longer wolfs his food down. Of course, the worm treatment has likely helped too. But at least now he's getting all the food instead of just some of it! You may want to try feeding 2-3 times a day instead of just once. It definitely worked for us.