Is there any possibility that he could have been programmed to only be allowed to eat after a fight? Maybe that is my imagination running away with me but who knows what those ingrates could have done to the dogs mind.

I would start with hand feeding. Or if the dog is willing to play with a ball or anything like that..any kind of fetching, I would start having him go after a piece of chicken. Just throwing it and having him go get it. The taste in his mouth might override whatever programming he has been brainwashed with. If worse came to absolute worse, I would even get a can of crap dog food (I've never seen a dog that can resist that stuff, it's like chocolate to us humans) and just start taking it and putting small amount of the soft stuff into his mouth. If that works, gradually start adding good canned food, etc.

Really, I'm just pulling ideas out of my backside here but, hey, maybe something I've said will trigger a genuinely good idea from someone else, lol.

After all he has been through, I couldn't bear to see him starve himself to death. Maybe you should eat something and make it look really yummy, making all kinds of yummy noises...while he watches, then after a few minutes offer him some. Maybe peak his curiousity. I dunno, I'll shut up now.

I've lived with several rescues who would only eat outside, even one who would only eat crap in a bag aka pedigree or purina - ew... There was also one who would not eat dog food when we first got her. She was previously at a home where she ate at the kitchen table with everyone else.

Keep trying and good luck.

 Quote: robbinmann

Is there any possibility that he could have been programmed to only be allowed to eat after a fight? Maybe that is my imagination running away with me but who knows what those ingrates could have done to the dogs mind.

Actually, Robin, you are unfortunately right on base. Many "dogmen" only will feed their dogs after a fight, and only if they win. It doesn't take long for them to associate the two. Keeping that in mind, I'm reluctant to try playing a game with the food because I don't want to continue that mentality with him. Going to try the eating first thing...

Cameron, I'd get plastic non-jingly tags.

The eating: Our club has fostered a couple of seized dogs who had been "bait" in a fighting ring. (One was a small Pug whose ears had been hacked off so the "training" fighter dogs would not have appendages to latch onto) and one was a puppy. Both had adhesive all over their muzzles from taping the mouth shut so the "training" dogs would gain "confidence" by not getting bitten on their first "lessons." A third was a fighter with the wounds to prove it.

These dogs, miraculously (IMO) are all OK now. They are all close to normal now.

The Pit mix started eating when his foster owner started to feed him for "work." That is, she did simple basic ob and hand-fed him for every reward. This segued into a little stint of all his ob routine followed by his dinner every day.

I can't be sure, of course, but I think it's possible that fighting has now been supplanted by upbeat basic ob as his performance-for-food.

I'd add that while I am absolutely not advocating bacon as a good ingredient, I have found that still-warm cooked bacon is hugely attractive to dogs and that it can help to break a cycle of not-eating.

I think I'd even use it as a lure/bribe in this particular case, having it visible for a little upbeat ob session and rewarding liberally.

I'd probably sprinkle a little on the dish of food too, after the fear cycle starts to crumble a bit.

Well, the bacon attracted him. He came running over to me when it started cooking, drooling.
But he has been trained to not take food also. At least it appears to be this way. I am not sure how to get him over this.
He literally sat there, staring at me and drooling while the bacon was cooking, then sat there staring at my hand and the plate, then the piece I put on the floor, so intense with every muscle standing out, liking his lips and drooling at it. But he would not eat it. After about 5 mins of this he actually whined really, really faintly, then immediately cowered down and the full body shakes started around that time as well. No amount of encouraging or silence made any sort of difference. He WANTS the bacon, no doubt about it. He just i9sn't willing to go against what he has been taught to get it... (Connie I tried the sitting down looking away thing too... same response. He just stood there watching but not moving.)
I'm going to try the OB work thing... maybe??? please say a prayer or keep your fingers crossed for this one...

Try leaving the room... put some bacon on the floor and leave. See if he eats it?? (Or crate him with his food, that works for my nervous boy sometimes. He'll eat if I'm watching TV).

Poor guy!!!!! I feel so badly for him.

Edit: maybe he has a release word. ?? "eat" or "go" or "okay" or something???

 Quote: angela burrell

Try leaving the room... put some bacon on the floor and leave. See if he eats it?? (Or crate him with his food, that works for my nervous boy sometimes.

Both good pieces of advice!

And the ob work will not only give him a job for his food, but (I believe) will also ramp up his confidence and your bond.

When you give the reward, you might want (in this case) to use a word, such as OK or Eat, in an upbeat voice. (Don't use the word that you use as a marker, if you use a spoken marker; I do, and I reserve "yes" for just that.)

I'd probably be careful to praise him when he eats the food, if you leave him with it or put it into his crate. You don't want him to perceive that he must scarf it down while your back is turned.

I'd probably try to "catch" him eating (if you do leave him alone with his food) and say "Good boy!" in an upbeat but quiet and unexcited voice.

And something I'm sure you know, but good to keep in mind: Now is now. We cannot make up for the past, and it's counterproductive for us and for the dog to dwell on it or to forget that what he needs most is a calm pack leader who is his source of protection.

Just mulling over some ideas: I was thinking that maybe this pack-structure thing might ring a bell:

What if you had a plate of food and you ate some while he watched? Then you could be all done and give him the plate? I'm not sure about this, and haven't tried it, but it seems that it might give the appearance of the pack leader eating and then relinquishing the rest to the others. And of course, I would then turn away (and walk away) just as if I really had eaten my fill and left the rest for him.

If this worked, I'd keep on doing it, maybe with less of a performance each time.

I'm not thinking of it as a permanent routine -- but to demonstrate that once the food is given from you to him, it's his food, and to help get over this hump of being afraid to eat the food.

And Al Curbow pointed out to me once (absolutely correctly) that when I stood over the bowl of food (at the time, waiting to see if the new dog would eat), I was giving the impression of continued food ownership.

When I gave the food and then walked away from it, the dog (not as severe a case as this one, but still .... ) cautiously approached the food, looked at me from across the room, and when I smiled and said something encouraging, ate like a piglet.

Another thought:

I wonder: Do you have another dog, one with zero issues? Can the new dog watch, perhaps from his crate, while you do a little Ob with the calm dog and then give food (using whatever "eat" word you choose)?