Interesting puppy problems
I have owned a lot of dogs in my lifetime and have always been able to figure out ways of teaching them how to behave without hitting them or being mean in anyway. I just adopted a puppy that a family dropped off at my home saying they didn't want it and wanted to get the mother fixed. The puppy is only about 6 weeks old and not quite old enough to be completely free of its mother, but the people refused to keep it.
She is very playful and smart. I have only had her for a day and already she knows to go to the door to go out. We've only had one accident and its my fault I wasn't to the door in time for her, but she did make it to the door. My problem is that the only way I have found to get her to eat is to put her food in a bowl with some warm water, but even then she merely drinks the water. I have never seen this but she won't even go near the bowl unless I stand near it and she acts as if there's something in the bowl that's going to grab her... its rather amusing to watch. She will stand as far away from the bowl as she can strech her neck towards the bowl on her tip toes so that she's bearly close enough to drink. Then she occasionaly jump back and whine as if something has scared her away from her bowl. I have tried petting her and holding her gently closer to the bowl to assure her that its OK. But it doesn't seem to be working. In fact so far the only way I have gotten her to eat is to pick the food up and hold it out to her. I tried holding it out to her and leading her nose to the bowl and dropping it but she just pulls back and cries. I have never seen this before, any suggestions?
Should I be giving her a mothers milk supplement for another week or two and ween her off myself?