Picky pooch

[Snowgrrl83]

Hey everyone!

Does anyone have a picky dog like mine? He will refuse to eat certain foods. We had to change his food several times because he is so picky. Now we got him on this Salmon food with a special Omega-3 sauce (Arctic Vigor). He will only eat if there is the sauce over the food...or an egg.. he HATES lamb and rice.. he will only eat chicken or beef on certain days. Yeah, he loves fish.. and figure this one out.. We give him cat fish-flavoured treats because he prefers them over certain dog treats.

What do you feed your picky pooch?

[Scott_B]

Picky dogs are made, not born

Use the 10min rule. Put out his food ( a good kibble or canned food) and let him have it for 10min. If he doesnt eat it, take it up, and he gets NOTHING, no treats, NOTHING, until next meal, and you offer it again. Do this for 2-3 days. When he gets hungry he'll eat. (unless hes Techno's dog )

By putting something tasty on the food after they refuse, you teach them that they can hold out if they dont care for something and they'll get something better.

[coppperbelle]

Originally Posted by Scott_B

Picky dogs are made, not born

Use the 10min rule. Put out his food ( a good kibble or canned food) and let him have it for 10min. If he doesnt eat it, take it up, and he gets NOTHING, no treats, NOTHING, until next meal, and you offer it again. Do this for 2-3 days. When he gets hungry he'll eat. (unless hes Techno's dog )

By putting something tasty on the food after they refuse, you teach them that they can hold out if they dont care for something and they'll get something better.

I agree 100% You need to start deciding what he eats and not the other way around. Good luck.

[Snowgrrl83]

Well, we did the 10-min tactic for about a month before... he lost so much weight... we would visit our trainning classes weekly and the woman was noticing his weight loss so....... we started free-feeding him and trying to find what he likes.... it was also a problem when first trainning him because he was interested in other things rather than treats. We would bring a toy to trainning classes instead of treats because he just wasnt treat motivated but enjoyed his toys better. We reward him with walks and play time and praise rather than treats... except cat-bites and fish seem yummy to him.

[rainbow]

How often did you change foods? Is it a salmon based kibble you have him on now? What brand?

[celticfox]

You have my sympathy. I've got a very picky pooch too.

Raven has food allergies and we've had to switch foods so many times since we adopted her last fall. I honestly believe that she expects a new food every day now. She's never had a huge appetite (unlike our other dog Rusty, the canine garbage can ) but she's been so finicky the past few weeks that she's lost a bit of weight too. She ate nothing more than a few mouthfuls of food for several days (despite being very interested in what we were eating, of course). I've had some luck getting her to eat by mixing canned sardines into her food but she's still only eating about half of what she was over the winter (1 cup a day instead of 2).

I notice that your boy is a husky. Raven is half husky and I've read that huskies are very light eaters because they were bred to function on little food and that they they actually regulate their food intake. I can't help but wonder if the warmer weather is partly responsible for her lack of appetite. Time to shed those winter pounds, perhaps?

[Scott_B]

Well with training, it doesnt have to be treats. Its anything that the dog wants. Praise, a good belly rub, a certain toy. All these are rewards. Food just seems to be what everyone falls back on.

[Snowgrrl83]

Maybe it is a husky thing. Sometimes we can leave a fresh steak in front of him and he won't eat it. One thing that works with my husky is a fresh fish out of the lake when we go fishing. Fish is definately his favorite food, so I can see how sardines can work with a husky/german cross. Maybe your husky/german shep has got some picky husky in him. My dog definately eats less in the summer than in the winter.

Rundle eats the GoNatural...salmon and oatmeal formula. It comes from pacific salmon....Our local pet shop recommended it to us. She owns 2 alaskan malamutes and swears on it. It has worked for our dog for almost 8 months now after switching from so many kinds of food. It is the only fish-based dog food we can find. We also put in the Arctic Vigor sauce in his bowl. It has been the best sauce to get rid of "hot spots" It is made with "fish oils" and comes from newfoundland...

[rainbow]

I must have lucked out with my Siberians. Logan is our third one and we've never had a problem with picky eaters.

Go Natural Salmon and Oatmeal is a good food. Another one to try is Orijen 6 Fresh Fish. Excellent ingredients and read the "white paper" information:

http://www.championpetfoods.com/orij...IJEN6fish.aspx

[breeze]

When Naktia (huskey) was alive she was a picky eater. somedays she would eat and other days she would not snub her nose at it, we never gave into her pickyness, made sure everything was fine at the vet, it was just her, we would still give her her food twice a day and when she was hungry she would eat... she did this all her life, we just got use to it

[Cram]

LoL, Helix is just like that too! He's an Alaskan Klee Kai- there's some husky in him, that's for sure. His breed is typically on the skinny side and not big eaters at all. At first, we gave him Innova Puppy, which was OK for him- he would nibble and such, but even after a few days of the 10 minute rule, he still wouldn't eat. However, it is difficult to train a puppy in puppy classes without treats! He just doesn't respond well to toys or praise- he's all about treats for some reason, even though kibble doesn't excite him. Anyhow, we weren't happy with his excitement about the Innova, so we did a taste test for him with the Innova, California Naturals Lamb & Rice, Go! Naturals Salmon & Oatmeal, and Orijen Puppy. Well, the CLEAR winner was Orijen- once he smelled that stuff he gobbled it down in no time! He also ate all of the Go! Natural we gave him, and left the Innova and Cal Naturals on the plates. So we switched him over, and now he's a lot better with his food- he'll eat a bit in the morning and then most in the evening in around an hour. When he's older we're going to try a rotation diet for him (bag by bag) with Orijen Adult, Orijen 6 fish and Innova EVO RM. He definitely likes his fish though, I made biscuits with salmon and he loves them, and we use tuna or salmon based training treats (purchased or home-made).

[geisha]

What is it about Northern Breeds!? My friend has a sammy that is very picky. My first samoyed a male used to let the magpies swoop in on his kibble.(after that we fed him indoors) When we first got Geisha she wouldn't touch her Royal Canin Medium (that the breeder recommended) or any lamb & rice food. She chows down on her Go! & Orijen. Rose has always been a good eater though.

[Kristin7]

I don't know if my dog is a Northern breed or not (he is a mutt) but he is very picky and I have cut his feeding times down from 2x to 1x per day as otherwise it is too frustrating. He is more interested in it if the cat goes for it... Lately, I've noticed if I make a big fuss about him when I feed him (lots of enthusiastic praising) he has more of a tendency to eat most of his dinner. I do suspect he has some type of Northern breed in him, though. He loves the snow and cold weather and is easily overheated in the warm summers around here.