Expert: Have4Paws - 12/10/2008

Question
My 11 1/2 year old beagle is insatiable when it comes to food.  He's always had this problem but it has gotten worse over the past few years.  He will woof down his food in 5 seconds flat, then act as though he is starving.  he will begin to beg and howl especially if we are sitting down to eat.  he pants as though he's run 5 miles and gets very frantic when there is food present to the point of shaking.  When he does eat, not matter how much, he acts as though he has not eaten.  He used to be overweight but has been on the green bean diet for a couple of years and doing well weight wise.  Also, when people come over, he howls and stands by the pantry expecting us to give him a treat.  And then another one.  We are very frustrated.  We just want to enjoy Barney's company without being harrassed while eating.

Answer
Hi, sorry to hear Barney is stressing over his food. First off, beagles are ALL insatiable. They will literally eat until they burst!

Secondly, it is very likely that Barney's issues are all behavioral but just in case he really needs to be checked out by the vet to rule out any other disease process, especially at over 11 years old.There are issues about malabsorption of nutrients that can make a dog ravenous all the time. The fact that he was once overweight tells me probably not and also that you probably overfed him which may be more likely the issue but still it needs to be checked out.  If that is cleared then it's purely a behavioral problem which has most likely developed over the years without being corrected, or in your attempts to correct it you inadvertently validated it and so it continued on.

I would try hand feeding Barney to start. Sit down on the floor with him and literally feed him only a few pieces in your hand at a time. I would not give him the food until he has done either a sit or a sit and then down. This will make him work for the food and slow him down. If he lunges for it or uses an aggressive mouth hold it back and tell him "Un Uh" and try again. I would work on getting him to eat only when you have told him "take it". So in other words, he does the sit or down, you offer the food in front of him but he must learn to resist until you say "take it" and then he MUST use a gentle mouth. If you are willing to work with him on this for a couple weeks it will greatly improve. Then you can graduate to controlling his bowl and if he goes too fast you take the bowl away and start over.

Simultaneously you need to make up some "shake cans" and work on the begging howling behavior.These are an empty soda can with about 10 pennies in them and duct taped over the top. Each time he howls or begs shake the can at him but try to make it so he doesn't see it is you doing it (we don't want him to become afraid of you). Maybe you could have one person interacting  with him and the other watching with can in hand. If you do this right he will learn to stop whatever behavior as soon as he hears the can. Evenetually the behavior should be extinguished.

No dog is too old to learn new behaviors so remember that he will be as good as you are devoted to making it so!

Hope this helps, feel free to check back or let me know if anything is unclear.

Have4Paws