Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to solve my little guy's food issues. He's almost 3 months old and we are trying to stop this behaviour before he's large enough to do real damage to himself, us, or the house. The actual feeding is going fine (we hand feed.) He will sit quietly and make eye contact, but the food preparation is going terribly.

The chaos starts when he hears the lid of the food bin open. He barks obsessively and hurls himself at the wall and the baby gate, spinning in circles, screaming, etc. Nothing we have tried will calm him down. It's like he completely loses his mind. He never stops, calms down, or even pauses his barking. Not even for a second. Even if we let him into the room he does all the same things, but hurls himself at us rather than the gate.

We have tried: Walking away during food prep when he barks. He will bark for about 15 minutes and then settle down, but the second he hears us back in the kitchen he will start up again. This can occur indefinitely. We have also tried an ultrasonic bark controller, but it didn't faze him.

We are currently trying: Pinning him until he calms down and then restarting the process. He struggles and howls and barks for about the first 5 minutes, but it takes about 15 minutes for him to become truly calm. The calmness will last about 10 seconds after he stands up and then we have to pin him again because he will start up again with all the craziness I already mentioned.

I don't know what else to try. I start work in two days and will no longer have the extra 3 hours a day it is taking to try to calm him down during food preparation.

My other dog sits quietly and patiently through all of this, sitting in her place waiting for us to place her bowl in front of her and then tell her it's ok to eat. I really want to get him to that level of calmness, but I just can't figure out how to.

Has anyone else ever had an issue like this and managed to correct it? If so, I'd love some ideas.

Oh my this is what Balon does in the bathtub, he screams like a banshee and hurls himself into the side of tub, he hates a bath.

Are you feeding him 2 or 3 times a day? If 2 maybe try feeding him 3 times a day (just divide what you feed per day into 3 equal feedings) maybe he is too hungry and gets himself all worked up for food?

We are feeding him three times a day. Once in the morning, once in mid-afternoon and once in late evening. He also has toys all the time with kibbles in them and although he plays with them and gets kibbles once in awhile, he doesn't get worked up about them like he does at actual feeding time.