Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a four year old silk/Maltese terrier. He was bought by my sister and she has since moved on and did not bother to train him. He is not a pest most of the time, he is actually quite tame. However he has some problems in regard to eating and sleeping.

When he was young, she "trained" him to eat by sitting over him. Now he won't eat unless some one is near him. It can be a bit problematic if we go out because he just doesn't eat, no matter how hungry he is.

This leads to the next problem. Bed time. He really doesn't enjoy bed time. He will bang the door for ages. I do ignore him but it is so annoying I've had to resort to putting cushions in front of the door so there is no noise. Another linked problem is he wakes up and ridiculous hours. Sometimes as early as 3 am. I think this might be due to the fact he is hungry. I think once I fix the first problem, this will be fixed as well.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Buy him a kennel. Let him eat his meals in the kennel, and also sleep there.

A pampered pup is not going to back down really well on this unfortunately.

If this dog came into my home, I'd get a great canned food and put it down for the dog for 30 minutes in a bowl on the floor and leave it down only for that 30 minutes. If the dog doesn't eat it in that time, I'd pick the bowl up and try again in 8 hours or so. The dog would absolutely NOT get anything else offered to him except water. Make sure everyone doesn't feed him between meals. Eventually, the dog will eat. I've never heard of a healthy dog starving itself.

As for bedtime- get a crate and put the dog in it. Then absolutely ignore the dog no matter what once it's bed time. If you are certian there are no urinary tract problems, there's no reason a dog of this age should wake at night. Just dont 'cave to pest behaviors.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles