Why is my dog scared to eat?

Close to 3 years ago, I adopted Minnie. She was a breeder dog in a puppy mill. She's always been skittish about eating, more than one person around and she doesn't want to eat. Sometimes I even have had to shut her in the bathroom to give her enough security to eat. Lately, she's so skittish she won't eat at all unless I feed her each piece by hand. Even then she acts terrified. This can't go on. I've tried to deny her treats to make her hungry enough to eat. Tried praising her when she eats. I've got trips planned I can't take her on and I can't expect my brother & sister-in-law to hand feed her. Why is my dog scared to eat & how can I help her over come it? By now she should know no one's going to take away her food. She's gotten so secure about everything else, even a bit bratty. I don't understand why she's regressing about food. Is it because she's going blind? Or because she had to have two more teeth removed? I do my best to keep her few teeth healthy (she had 7 when I adopted her, now she has 5) but all those years in the puppy mill....

Your dog should still be able to eat normally with five teeth.
   
Well typically dogs wolf down their meals like pigs so this is certainly an unusual problem.
   
Obviously something happened at the puppy mill that was associated with meal time that has left her this way, but there is no sense in speculating on what it is as you will probably never know.
   
Since she has progressed in other areas there is no real reason why this should remain an issue and in fact she has gone backwards in this one area.
   
I am suspicous that she has regressed because you let her. She sensed that she 'had you by the short ones' and is now demanding to be fed like a queen. You can't expect others do to this, you're right, so you need to take back control.
   
Put her food down. Walk away. Leave it for one hour. If she eats or not, up it comes. No treats and no snacks. She starves until her next scheduled meal. Don't give in, even if she begs for food.
   
Nature will take its course. Minnie will become so hungry that her hunger will override her fear and she will eat. This may take a day or even two but I'd be surprised if its any longer. Minnie has lived with you for long enough to know on some level that there is no 'penalty' for eating her meal so eventually she will logic this out, weigh her options and choose food.
   
I suspect you aren't waiting long enough, panicking and feeding her by hand. Don't cave. I know it's hard but this is for her own good.
   
If you've been doing this already and it isn't working, try this.
   
Dogs eat in pack order. Minnie is at the bottom of the back and you are the pack leader.
   
Prepare her meal. Hold the bowl and make sure she sees you with her meal. Meanwhile, you have a small morsel of human food concealed in your hand (we used a pretzel).
   
Get her attention. Now, pretend you are taking the pretzel from her bowl and eat it. Exaggerate your movements and make a big show of chewing so she thinks you have eaten from her dish.
   
Put the dish down for her.
   
She may interpret this as the pack leader (you) ate first, it is now her 'turn' to eat. She may currently believe it is not her right to eat 'first' and she 'batting out of order' as it were, so by doing this you are giving her 'permission' to eat that she may have been seeking.
   
You may be stuck doing this drill every meal for life but it's not the worst thing in the world.
   
As an aside, what does her dish look like? Sometimes the ones that are shiny and reflective scare dogs so if she has that kind of bowl, switch it with a dull plastic one and see if she is more comfortable. Sometimes it really is that simple.
   
Is she crate trained? Does she feel comfortable in her crate? If so, you could always try serving the meal in her crate to see if she is more secure eating there.
   
The problem could be exacerbated by your anxiety. This is a dog with no health issues that you are hand feeding which tells me that your anxiety on this issue is through the roof.
   
Minnie can sense this so she knows that feeding time is freak out time and is acting accordingly.
   
Try a new tack. Once you have eaten your pretzel (or whatever) and put her bowl down, say 'bon apetit, Minnie' in a cheery voice and walk away.
   
Don't check on her. She has one hour of alone time with her meal.
   
Your goal is to show her that this eating thing is no big deal. If you stop acting like every meal is a code blue then she might too.
   

   
Feed her with calm confidence and she just may begin to eat with calm confidence.
   
Good luck, hope she's eating like a normal dog real soon.

We use a paper plate because if the tags on her collar ring against anything like the side of a bowl or a regular dish she'll get startled by the sound and won't eat. Though I find it odd that she doesn't get this way when drinking water. Just food.
   
She's not crate trained. Having spent her life in a cage barely bigger than she was up until now she's terrified of anything smaller than the bathroom.
   
She approaches the food with her back legs splayed out and will stretch her neck out, quivering the whole time. Even when I hand feed her I have to toss her each piece and if it doesn't come close to her she won't go for it.
   
I'll try your option. Though I wonder if she could see it. She is going blind. (The puppy mill was out near Palm Springs, CA, so she was outside in the harsh desert weather for God only knows how long before being rescued.) Right now she won't eat on her own unless I do something like cut up some baby carrots or a small amount of cheese and mix it in. Otherwise I have to toss her the food a little at a time.
   
She's made so much progress otherwise. For instance she's finally going up to men to be petted - before she only trusted women and some of the neighborhood kids. She used to be utterly terrified of men.
   
Reason I had brought up the teeth is I wondered if the trauma of losing two more had caused the regression.