How does your dog tell you it's -their- dinnertime?
She stares at me until I check my watch.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
37 points (100.0% liked)
Dogs
5218 readers
213 users here now
A community about dogs.
Breeds, tips and tricks about training and behaviour, news affecting dog owners, canine photography, dog-related art and any questions related to dog ownership.
Rules
- Posts must be related to dogs or dog ownership and must not be void of content.
- This is a neutral space. No bigotry or personal attacks. Criticism should be polite and constructive.
- No automated content. This includes AI generated imagery, post body, articles, comments or automated accounts.
- No advertising or self-promotion.
- Illegal or unethical practices are frowned upon, and any comments or posts suggesting them will be removed. This includes, but is not limited to, backyard breeding, ear and tail cropping, fake service animals, negative reinforcement, alpha/pack/dominance theory, and eugenics.
- No judging or attacking community members who care for dogs with cropped ears, docked tails, or those from puppy mills or questionable sources. While we discourage these practices (per Rule 5), all dogs deserve loving homes and compassionate care regardless of their background or physical alterations.
- No breed discrimination, all breeds welcome. Our stance matches the ASPCA's official stance and is not up for debate.
- Citing your sources when making a claim is encouraged. Misinformation will be removed.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
We have a measuring cup for scooping out the food, and my biggest one will bump it gently with her nose and then make the hard eye contact, with fleeting glances back to the cup to make sure I got it. The little one will yodel and paw at my legs and try to lead me to the food, and then refuse to eat it out of his own bowl and will steal the big one's food anyway.
He leads me to the kitchen, angrily pokes his food bag twice with his snout and then just sits and stares at it.
Or I will find him standing in front of the food bag, his head looking at me but his body aimed at the food bag. He's an excellent communicator.
The same way they alert me to everything else they need: They stare at me REALLY loudly. 🤣
Deafening, isn't it? 😆
The loudest non-sound known to science.
About an hour before dinnertime our dog gets super excitable. She starts to stare at us constantly, and if we get up to to do anything at all she goes apeshit with excitement because OH MY GOD IS IT FINALLY TIME?!?!
My girl is fed twice a day but she’s more of a grazer so she doesn’t always immediately eat her food or bother me to feed her. What she does do is that if she’s barking out the window when she’s not supposed to and I come over to get her to stop she pretends she’s not doing anything wrong and goes over to her bowl and starts eating. Like “what? I’m just eating lunch. I wasn’t doing anything” Every time.
My 2 will usually act completely normal. However, if I haven't noticed it's dinnertime yet cause I'm watching a movie or something, they will bolt up to attention if I make a single movement. It's usually drastic enough that I'll get up and feed them.
I keep his bowl full, and he self regulates his food intake. He doesn't overeat, and his weight has always stayed at a healthy level. However, he does like to go hit the bells on the door, and when I go to open it, he backs up and stares at the treat shelf.
If their bowls are empty they will come and tap me with their paw and look at their bowls and back at me and at their bowls and back at me...
We have two dogs. One paws at his food bowl until it flips and makes a huge noise, the other just pesters me with endless licks. The “clannnnng” of the food bowl always gets a laugh (and immediate action) but the licking is just annoying.
Perhaps a weighted food bowl is in order? Lol
Growing up, we had one Doxie that would nose around the bowl. The a golden-mut mix that would go “aRo-Roo-Roo-roo” softly. (This was Snickers, a very good doggo.)
Then there was another Doxie of my moms that had been trained to ring a bell to go out…. She’d also ring the bell and immediately go to the food bowl.