So Max is almost 10 months old now and in the past couple weeks he's been exhibiting this odd behavior of not finishing his food.

Very little has changed since we got him at 8 weeks old. He gets fed twice a day in his crate. He's been eating Honest Kitchen Thrive - right now he gets a little over 2 cups twice a day with E and Fish Oil supplements. He looks great, very lean, and weighs in at 60 lbs.

But in the last couple weeks he will eat about 3/4 of his food and then not finish it. When I pick up his pail and let him out of the crate, he goes crazy for the food wanting to finish it, but he won't finish it while he's in the crate. If I hold the pail in my hand after I let him out of the crate, he will lick it clean while I hold it. It's really strange.

So what I've been doing is just picking up the food and not letting him finish it. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and nothing seems to change. Of course he's always hungry and will eat anything I allow him to, including sticks, pillow stuffing, pine cones, my wife's flip flops, socks, name it. So I can pretty much discount that he's being overfed.

Has anyone seen this behavior before or know what it means?

Thanks.
kjs

I'm probably going to get jumped all over for this...


Try going to once a day feedings.

His growth is slowing down. Eating twice a day, he may not be getting hungry enough to eat all his food.
Letting him get hungry all day long, and then feeding him in the evenings may solve the problem.

I firmly believe that while it is best to feed twice a day, some dogs disagree.

How does the 60 pounds compare to a month ago?

He may have hit the opposite of a growth spurt and might need fewer calories than he did a few weeks ago.

I documented his weigh-ins:

28 NOV 08 - 38.9 lbs
18 DEC 08 - 40.5
13 JAN 09 - 46.3
10 FEB 09 - 53.3
18 MAR 09 - 59.2

That's interesting about him possibly needing less calories, but as I said, when he comes out of the crate after I pick up his pail, he's jumping up to get at what's left, and if I let him, he'll gobble it down out of the pail while I hold it in my hand.

Doesn't it seem strange that he will eat it if I hold the pail, but not if it's hanging on the crate door?

Is it possible he would prefer a different food recepticle? Perhaps the pail is moving too much when he gets to the bottom- hence his willingness to eat when you hold it still?

Try switching to a shallow bowl?