Attention span of a housefly!

Maybe hes concentrating on you so much becauseyour trying to ge him to eat.  Its hard to explain but hes thinking your telling him something interesting and then may start eating and when you walk off he doesnt want to miss out on all the fuss...?  Maybe just let him eat at his own pace, if hes hungry he'll eat.
 
Do you have him on a schedule?  Are you sure your not overfeeding?
 
Sorry, just spitting out ideas here with the info I have.  How old? What kind of food? How much and how many times a day do you feed?
 
Sometimes they just dont really like the food too much...

Sofia was like that for years. She's 4 now, and she's still a free feeder. She's never overweight, I can always have food in her dish and she'll eat just what she needs. Maybe what you've got is a dog, like mine, who just has a different eating habit. I actually like the way she is. It only becomes a problem when you have two dogs, and one is the perfect free feeder, and the other is a pig that snarfs up anything that comes its way. Then you have a problem.

When he's hungry, he'll eat. I would not worry about it. Not all dogs gobble their food.

Have you tried sitting beside him while he eats? I used to have to do that or my pup would follow me around the house instead of eating. I'd sit by him and drink a cup of coffee or read a magazine. It didn't take long.

in the mornings, my wife usually sits with our dogs when the eat (kind of like what jones describes). they get about 20 mins to eat their breakfast and then if any is left we take it up.

in the evenings, they eat supper when we eat supper. we put their food down when we start supper and take it up when we are finished. usually about 30-40 mins.

occassionally amelia will get distracted and not finish her meal, but sydney always licks his bowl clean![]

I have to sit with Reese or she wont eat anything.I preferr to sit with them all in the morning anyway just to make sure nobody is getting agressive and everyone is eating properly,Otherwise i could potentially miss it if one was having a problem with loss of appetite ect.There are 9 of them so it could easily be overlooked otherwise.Also some have different food than others and i have to keep everyone at the right bowl.Gosh this sounds like a lot of work now that i think about it.I must be nuts!

Count me in, I sit with Little Misty while she eats.  If I'm wandering around during her meal time, she can't concentrate and get to it, no matter how hungry she is.  And, at 5 pounds, she can't afford to go without a meal without having hypoglycemic space outs.  

I also stay with them.  Bailey will go eat Minnies food if no ones there to make her stay by her own bowl.

Can you crate him while he eats?

you'll have to train him. Put the food down in the chosen eating spot, and set a timer for ten minutes, and then go do whatever you want. A healthy, hungry dog should gobble his food up in seconds. So after your timer goes off, go pick up the food bowl and don't give him a second chance. A few days of this and he'll be eating up like a champ. It's good for dogs to be skinny, and really, it doesn't hurt dogs to not eat for several days (except for tiny dogs). You're in charge, not your dog, don't let him manipulate you with weirdo eating behaviors.
If after a few days of "tough love" he still isn't eating up, change his food. I think it is very abnormal for a dog to not gobble up food. It's possible for a particular food to be repulsive to a particular dog, or to make a particular dog feel sick (and thus reluctant to eat it) due to intolerance of certain ingredients.

Thanks for all the replies!
 
Amy- He is one year old, and yep, I do have him on a feeding schedule. He is allergic to positively everything, so we have him on a hypoallergenic diet (First Mate). He has actually started eating less since summer began, he gets one cup of his kibble, broken up into two separate meals. You might be right about him not liking the food itself, though...I don't know if it is too bland? Main ingredients are herring and potato.
 
And he does gobble- he just perks up and loses interest, even if I am sitting beside him (which I do). Dad will start leaving for work, sister will leave for school, get up to take a phone call, leave to see a friend, etc., and I'm left frustrated! [&:] I am with him most of the time, because I study from home. There are only three of us living here, but it gets busy throughout the day. And just to clarify, when I say, 'distracted,' I mean that Cyrus is positively neurotic about everything. Including the sound of silverware, the neighbour's collie barking...and so on.
 
I have tried giving him his meals in his crate, and it beats me why he won't eat them there. We don't punish him by sending him there or anything, he sleeps and naps there...don't know why he wouldn't eat there, too.
 
mudpuppy- I am a little worried about taking away an unfinished meal from him. His activity level is very high, and this summer, he's down to one cup (and some days, not even that!) and has lost a little weight. Roughly how long would it take for a dog to respond and start eating...?

ah, well, in that case, have you thought about using part or all of his meals as "training rewards"? make him work for it? Sounds like he could use some focus work, and it's a good way to burn off that hyper energy. Really fun sort of behaviors-- fetch, and running to touch targets, and silly tricks, and so on. I have two very high-drive dogs who really enjoy earning their food-- they'll work with great intensity for food they really had no interest in when it was just sitting in a bowl being boring. And you may find such games a lot of fun yourself, certainly more fun than sitting by the bowl wishing your dog would eat.
You might want to look into other foods he can eat as well. I believe there are several different brands of fish/potato foods for dogs with allergies. And you can get ure fish treats you could mix into the food in small quantities to make the training sessions especially interesting.

mudpuppy- I am a little worried about taking away an unfinished meal from him. His activity level is very high, and this summer, he's down to one cup (and some days, not even that!) and has lost a little weight. Roughly how long would it take for a dog to respond and start eating...?

I'm not mudpuppy, but I wouldn't sweat it too much. Unless he weighs only five pounds, he most likely has some reserve. As long as he's drinking, and not already on the verge of death, not eating for a day or four won't hurt him.

Put him in his crate, with his dish. Give him a certain amount of time to eat, and then take it away. I can't tell from your avatar, but maybe he DOES need less. A hungry dog typically will eat.

Of my kibble fed dogs, my 25 lb dog eats approx 1 cup or less of kibble daily, and my 10 and 13 lb dogs eat less than 1/2 cup daily - the 13 lb dog gets about 1/3 cup, and the 11 lb dog gets 1/2 cup. My 30 lb dog with high metabolism eats 2-1/2 cups daily. They do get other things added in (fish, eggs, cottage cheese, green tripe, etc), and RMB's a couple times a week - and on those days their kibble is reduced.

Edit to add: I do agree with mudpuppy, some working for his food may be a good thing! When you run your hands along his sides, do you easily feel his ribs?

Cyrus is seven inches at the shoulder and weighs about fifteen lbs., all muscle. When I run my hands along his sides, I can feel his ribs...not gaunt or sticking out or anything, but they feel more prominent than they did last winter. When he is lying down on his side, I can just see the outline of his bottom rib through his coat.

Don't know if this is clear enough; I do not have that many clear pictures of him standing up, sideview. Sadly, this is him running away from his foodbowl to go see what the neighbour's dog was making a fuss about: