Can't figure out this behavior . . .

jcater said:

I have a 6 year old female German Shepherd - normal in almost every way - except this occasional funky behavior that she's had since about age of 3 to the present. I don't see it as a problem, it's just a curiosity thing for me. She's been eating out of the same shiny, aluminum bowl about 8 inches diameter by 3 inches deep since she was a puppy. The bowl is cleaned after every meal. Her food has no unusual odor. It's always served at room temperature. We feed her the same food every day, twice a day (well, it was the same each day until Royal Canin decided to stop making wet food). Then we switched to Purina One. No "aha!" here though b/c she's had this same behavior before the brand switch as she did (and still does) after the switch. This is the behavior . . . roughly every couple of months and occurring daily for a week or so, she would approach her bowl, stick her nose in, pull it out, move her nose below the bowl, back into the bowl, below the bowl, back into the bowl, above the bowl, back into the bowl, left of the bowl, back in the bowl, to the right of the bowl - all within about 3-4 SECONDS. Of course, the directional sequence is not always the same but you get the picture. If you can visualize such movement in a 3-4 second time frame it's quite a sight to behold. I mean, I've never seen anything like it and I'm 60 years old and have had dogs all my life. She usually eats the food eventually though she has been known to skip a meal here and there, especially when she's in heat. She seems reasonably healthy though and sees the vet, usually twice a year. Because this doesn't seem to be a health issue, it hasn't crossed my mind to mention it during her health checkups though - I really should write it down as something to ask him next time she has a visit.

Anyway, what else could possibly be pertinent . . . she has a younger brother, also a German Shepherd who is one and a half years old. They eat in the same room and at the same time each day but they're separated by a short fence (so there's no competition for the food) and neither has ever jumped the fence. Their bowls are about 8 feet apart. Both dogs are fed the same thing in the same amounts at each meal. The mealtimes are fairly consistent - about every 12 hours. There are no other animals present while they eat. The room in which they eat is indoors and there are no bugs flying around. Ahhh, and the behavior occurs whether I feed them with light in the room or whether she's in near total darkness - so I don't think she's scared of any reflections she may see in her shiny bowl. I haven't fed her from a plastic bowl because I don't see this as a big problem. Again, just a curiosity question. So, any idea why she would behave this way at times?

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Buzzu2 said:

You can do a lot better for your dog, for the same $$.

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Wannabe said:

This reminds me, is there a comprehensive thread on various popular dog food brands here? I know a little from working with vets and trainers (back when we had a cat we typically fed it Science Diet which seemed reasonably high quality without being crazy expensive) but I'd bet many folks here have looked much further into it.

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Diamond Naturals Dog Food | Review | Rating | Recalls

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jcater said:

I have a 6 year old female German Shepherd - normal in almost every way - except this occasional funky behavior that she's had since about age of 3 to the present. I don't see it as a problem, it's just a curiosity thing for me. She's been eating out of the same shiny, aluminum bowl about 8 inches diameter by 3 inches deep since she was a puppy. The bowl is cleaned after every meal. Her food has no unusual odor. It's always served at room temperature. We feed her the same food every day, twice a day (well, it was the same each day until Royal Canin decided to stop making wet food). Then we switched to Purina One. No "aha!" here though b/c she's had this same behavior before the brand switch as she did (and still does) after the switch. This is the behavior . . . roughly every couple of months and occurring daily for a week or so, she would approach her bowl, stick her nose in, pull it out, move her nose below the bowl, back into the bowl, below the bowl, back into the bowl, above the bowl, back into the bowl, left of the bowl, back in the bowl, to the right of the bowl - all within about 3-4 SECONDS. Of course, the directional sequence is not always the same but you get the picture. If you can visualize such movement in a 3-4 second time frame it's quite a sight to behold. I mean, I've never seen anything like it and I'm 60 years old and have had dogs all my life. She usually eats the food eventually though she has been known to skip a meal here and there, especially when she's in heat. She seems reasonably healthy though and sees the vet, usually twice a year. Because this doesn't seem to be a health issue, it hasn't crossed my mind to mention it during her health checkups though - I really should write it down as something to ask him next time she has a visit.

Anyway, what else could possibly be pertinent . . . she has a younger brother, also a German Shepherd who is one and a half years old. They eat in the same room and at the same time each day but they're separated by a short fence (so there's no competition for the food) and neither has ever jumped the fence. Their bowls are about 8 feet apart. Both dogs are fed the same thing in the same amounts at each meal. The mealtimes are fairly consistent - about every 12 hours. There are no other animals present while they eat. The room in which they eat is indoors and there are no bugs flying around. Ahhh, and the behavior occurs whether I feed them with light in the room or whether she's in near total darkness - so I don't think she's scared of any reflections she may see in her shiny bowl. I haven't fed her from a plastic bowl because I don't see this as a big problem. Again, just a curiosity question. So, any idea why she would behave this way at times?

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lacybelly40 said:

I had to switch my stainless bowls out for porcelain because of static electricity in the air that would shock my dogs when they tried to eat. Could that be the problem?

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emeraldecho said:

I'm surprised static electricity would be such a problem...do you live in an area with lots of lightning? Generally if there's a shock it's from stray current - though even that is usually only a problem with livestock (what with galvanized water tanks and electical fencing...)

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