Forum Index
»
Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
How long will my 10 month old be OBSESSED with the dog bowl??
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I just want to know what I'm in for. We live in a house that is pretty open and for a variety of reasons I can't move the dog bowl and the dog is afraid of baby gates so I can't gate it off. MY DD is now thinking about the dog bowl from other rooms in the house and constantly making a break for it. I caught her "washing" her pacifier yesterday. Has anyone else had this problem? |
Anonymous
| Well, my now 14 month old DS is obsessed with the cat food bowl. Been going on about 6 months. It has gotten a little better I think in that he no longer EATS the cat food, but he still loves playing with it. |
Anonymous
|
Teach them the word NO.
Our 10mo old boy learned pretty quickly after a few NO's very loud and accompanied by an angry face. |
Anonymous
|
The allure of the pet food transcends normal child behavior modification methods.
My 16-month-old is still pretty into it, no matter how many times I tell her "no" and "yucky!". (Yucky is what worked to get her to stop digging in the trash.) Worse, I have the world's dumbest cat-- so dumb he doesn't realize he can jump the gate. Though when my babe went three or four days without eating much because of a nasty cold, we were sort of relieved to see her crunching away on some cat food. Hey, it's calories, right? 
|
Anonymous
| You can just put the cat bowl up on the counter. Put the dog bowl out when the toddler is napping and at night. |
Anonymous
| Ah, yes, my 18 month old is obsessed with going to the dog's water bowl and sticking his hands in it and then licking the water off. Ick. We've tried telling him no over and over. 2 things work for us -- distraction -- we stop him immediately when we see him making a break for it -- and, as a PP said, we move the bowls up on the counter when he's around and then move them back down when he's sleeping/preoccupied with something else. The dog does not mind at all so far... |
Anonymous
|
Yes, same as PPs. We put it on the counter until DD is out of the way or asleep. As one PP put it "She makes a break for it." Maybe b/c they are silver/shiny??
This is a funny post, but let's all be careful. I know it is very unlikely but it is a drowning risk! We caught DD fishing around in an open toilet the other day (my fault...) |
Anonymous
DD lost interest in the dog bowls shortly after she started walking -- more to see and do. Washing the pacifier in it sounds hilarious, you have to admit 
|
Anonymous
|
I don't remember when it stopped (or slowed down). Keep saying no, pick up the water bowl and move it out of reach (we had another water bowl for the dog upstairs where my child didn't go so often).
I also eventually found an area that I could sort of cordone off with chairs and other non-gate stuff, and actually my son learned pretty quickly he wasn't allowed behind (he did test it of course, but if you use no's sparingly, they do catch on to when you really, really mean it). Or maybe he just couldn't see it so he forgot about it. |
Anonymous
| This is cracking me up. Of course that's because we have passed this stage and the memories of it are really funny. I can't even begin to count how many times I chased my DD from the dog's water bowl. It was like a magnet and as soon as I turned my back for a second, there she was. Funny though, she hated the bath. Anyway, for us it started after she was walking and it took about 3-4 months for the attraction to wear off. |
Anonymous
|
Our DD went through a similar stage. We found that -as with other exploratory phases- if we just let her do her thing, she got over it faster.
So one day we just put down the towels and let her have at it for awhile. She got wet and didn't like it. She didn't get a reaction from us. Then, it was over. She showed very little interest in it, and certainly not in the same way, after that. |
Anonymous
| my son is 19 months and I just finished cleaning his mess - he put all the cat food in the water bowl. I wish I had an answer for you. |
Anonymous
| We wenth through that as well. Two to three weeks if I recall. I finally did the same as PP and let him play with it and he quickly lost interest. |
Anonymous
Really? It never occurred to me to say "no" to my child when he was palying with the cat bowl. Please. |
Anonymous
I feel really sorry for you if your child cannot understand the meaning of NO. You should have your child diagnosed for disabilities. oh, wait! maybe the problem is not the child at all... if you cannot control your child at this age you should seek help for yourself. when they are able to reach for the car keys and go away slamming the door it gets a little worse. watch out! |