A doggy lama client this week struggled with the crate entrance issue too. My best advice was to make going in more fun/rewarding than staying out. Like a charm, now the little woofer goes in by himself.

Good for you, smonster, coaching your mom to be directive with Frankie.

I just start to lose interest in food at that point.

I wish. Losing interest would be good. I tend to eat the same things all the time anyway, just too much of them. Peanuts, for instance. That salty crunchy thing gets me every time, and 4 servings a day just doesn't help.

Yeah, it only happens after I've been very good on a low glycemic diet and there are no cheat foods in the house. And I'm in control of my environment enough that I'm not around much temptation. By that point I start to get bored with my choices (I'm a really picky eater so any diet limits my choices even more than for the avg person, I think) and eating becomes more of an "I need fuel" activity.

Actually, a natural appetite depressant that I think actually works is grapefruit. The Scarsdale Diet used those for breakfast for a reason, I think.

I have lots of limitations (including citrus) too, which makes it rough sometimes. But, when I find something I like, I can eat it for weeks...especially if I make a big batch of something and don't have to cook.

Many years ago, when I lived in San Diego, my husband found a book by a local author called 'Jet Fuel'. The premise was that thinking about food as anything BUT fuel is where we get in trouble.

I can't find the book anymore, and I really wish I'd kept it!

deep fried mac and cheese with bacon.

In Minnesota we would add a stick.

Seriously, at the Minnesota State Fair, we have 60-70 foods on a stick.

Forgot to hit "post message" on that this morning.

A doggy lama client this week struggled with the crate entrance issue too. My best advice was to make going in more fun/rewarding than staying out. Like a charm, now the little woofer goes in by himself.

Yeah, I tried putting treats and toys in there but it didn't seem to help. Do you not give him toys/treats outside the crate? I just gave up and started picking him up matter-of-factly and putting him in.

I was of a perfectly healthy average weight growing up but my mom was constantly harping on weight. She is definitely the kind of mother who would create anorexics or bulemics (my sister later became bulemic. I hated throwing up too much.) I went on my first diet when I was 13 although I was athletic and had a weight in the recommended proportion to my height. My brothers called me "Fatty" because it upset me, not because it was true.

That background (which I think a lot of American women have) made me constantly think about weight and food. In my 30s I started gaining weight, probably because I'd broken my metabolism by dieting so early and so much.

I think this is the real problem with a lot of American women, at least. Food becomes something you constantly think about because we are inundated with messages about our bodies and how desirable or not we may be. If you think about food constantly, you're thinking about food. And of course you feel hungry and crave things. If our culture were less misogynistic and healthier about this sort of thing, it would just be fuel to us. Add on top of it all the general bad health infrastructure that affects both genders in the US (less exercise because we have cars/labor-saving devices/static jobs, HFCS in everything, many years of fat-free foods which substituted sugars for the fat) and anyone has quite a job trying to be healthy in their choices.

Do you not give him toys/treats outside the crate? I just gave up and started picking him up matter-of-factly and putting him in.

In the initial, resistant phase, I do both.

Conditioning-wise, it's better to not have to do the physical portion of the program, but I believe reinforcing the idea that resistance is futile is helpful. As you know, it should never, ever be done out of frustration or in punishment. But, sometimes, a good shove is all that will work.

Try upping the value of the treat inside, and keep that treat especially for the crate. I fed Bboy in the crate for a couple of weeks. Hunger is a great motivator.

It was rough for a few days but, honestly, 9 years later seeing him so happily trot in and knowing we are both getting the rest we need...it was completely worth it.

He only goes in the crate when I leave for work, so it may be a separation thing, too. I should try feeding him in the crate. I may also need to get a bigger crate, really.