Puppy will only eat after preforming a trick?

Hi everyone! I have a 4-month-old Dalmatian puppy who has been awesome so far. She is very smart and food motivated.

Out of nowhere, she’s started refusing to eat her kibble from her bowl. Up until recently, she would eat breakfast from her bowl in her crate while we were at work, and dinner from a pumpkin treat dispenser to help burn off some energy.

We also have cats and a senior German Shepherd. My German won’t eat her kibble unless it has human food on top (not really worried about that), and there has been a of couple times where my Dal snuck over and ate leftovers from her bowl or grabbed some cat food when I wasn’t looking. I corrected her and took the food away, and that seemed to work for a bit.

Now she won’t eat her own food from her bowl. I’m wondering if she got a taste of the “good stuff” and is holding out for toppers, which I really don’t want to encourage. I’ve been picking up everyone’s food and feeding her separately, and trying the “tough love” approach of only having the food down for 10 minutes then taking it up. It worked at first, but then she’d only eat if I toss the kibble on the floor and she ate like a chicken. She has no interest in the treat dispenser either anymore when that was her favorite way to eat.

In a last ditch effort, I made her do a trick and took her food out of her bowl and hand fed her as a "reward". She loves this, and will eat her entire meal this way until she gets bored of doing tricks and goes off to play. This is how I have been feeding her the last two days, but I do not want to make this a habit and would like for her to eat out of her bowl again.

Any suggestions?

submitted by /u/SnooWalruses8875
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