Lack of interest in mealtime...help?

[Tracy & Teddy]

Hello, new friends!

Nothing like a good health issue as your first "real" discussion topic, huh? :) I just joined but am wondering if others have had this experience with their doodles.

My 5 month old Teddy is overall fairly uninterested in mealtime. He will scarf down treats or hot dogs and fun things that I give him to chew on, but when it comes to breakfast/lunch/dinner, he sits for it and then just sort of sniffs at it and wanders away. We have taken to tethering him in our corner setup (what we sometimes use as a timeout--a 3 foot leash tied to a corner of his crate) so that he can't get over to the couch to laze; and then when he finishes, we untie him as a "reward" for eating. Writing that out it sounds worse than it is--he really doesn't seem too upset by it... if he doesn't want to eat, he just plops down with his head on the floor and his arms all sprawled out, very doodle-like, and then eventually might saunter over and eat a few bites. Then he sits and looks at us and we untie him and take away the food and try again later. Sometimes, maybe once or twice a week, I will feed him by hand and he is interested and scarfs it down. Other times when I try to hand-feed, he just sniffs it and ignores it. I also tried adding canned pumpkin as a topper, and adding water to the kibble--both of which he liked for a while but now is less interested in that, too. And THEN there are other times where we feed him and he goes right to it and eats it all up very quickly! (This doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.) Maybe he is just picky?

I am really worried about him not growing properly and getting his nutrition, but I don't know how to get him to eat his kibble!

If it's relevant--we are feeding him Now Fresh Grain-Free Puppy Food by Petcurean (it is the same food that the breeder had him on, but I loved the ingredients and it seems very healthy). He's about 36lbs or so now, I think (was 35.2 three weeks ago); and so I try doing 1c in the morning and then 1.5c in the afternoon and 1.5c in the evening.

The only other thing that I can think to mention is that he had been biting at his paws a lot a few weeks ago and sneezing/coughing in the mornings, so the vet recommended Benadryl twice a day for allergies...so I give him 1.5 Benadryls twice a day, each time wrapped in a small piece of hot dog. Not sure if I have spoiled him with tasty hot dog and now nothing else will do; or if it might be the allergies. He is otherwise energetic, happy, and totally normal--doesn't seem sick or anything at all to me.

I suppose that my next option would be to try switching his food... is that something that you guys end up doing a lot? I really love the ingredients of the Now Fresh and was happy to stick with it until it was time to switch to the Adult version.

Phew. Sorry for going on for so long, but any advice would be great because I feel like I am doing everything wrong! D:

[Marcey Peyser Friedman]

The trainer where I take rosebud had a dog that did the same thing. She started to use the food as a reward with training and by the time the training session was over the dog had eaten the entire meal. Her theory was the dog needed to "work" for the food. I know my golden doodle loves having jobs and would eat all her kibble with training as well.

[Tracy & Teddy]

That is a nice idea. I started out doing that when he was a baby and kind of got lazy with it, lol. I should revisit it! Thanks!

[Stella]

You should take a look at the discussions in The Food group, there are several about picky eaters and Karen and Jack Doodle are the allergy experts!!

[Tracy & Teddy]

Thanks so much! I wasn't sure which group would be more appropriate, but I did join that one as well so I will be sure to direct any future food topics over there. Thank you :)

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Wow! My guy is 5 months too, but we have switched to feeding twice per day. Also he gets only 1.5 to two cups total per day, but we are feeding different food... With treating included in calorie count, could he be offered more than he needs per day?
Also I have heard on this site that leaving food down can lead to them being picky. Doesn't sound like you are doing that, but just thought I would mention because I do agree with that. I'm following Doggy Dan's rule of picking up very quickly after they stop, and they don't eat until next scheduled meal. Sounds harsh, but wow did it change my guy's attitude :) Good luck with Teddy! I know how worrisome it is when they don't eat but maybe his body knows... Hope you figure it out soon. Best,

[Tracy & Teddy]

Thank you so much! I agree about not leaving it down, and we are usually pretty good about it but sometimes it does stay on the floor for a while longer than it should. I definitely think that we need to be more diligent about taking it away after 10-15 minutes so that he learns that he only gets to eat when we tell him, so he'd better scarf it on down. :D As for calories, I am feeding per the recommended feeding guidelines; but I am worried that maybe the hot dog pieces every day for pills is making him fuller. I am going to try hiding the pills inside of a pile of canned pumpkin instead and see if that works. :)

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I'm not familiar with the food that you are feeding but I would also agree that you should take a look in the food group and see if it is a recommend food.  It does seem like an awful lot of food.  AnnaBelle is 17 months and she gets not quite 2.5 cuts all day.  On the Doggy Dan site he talks about the 5 steps for becomming the pack leader.  One of those is about feeding.  It says that you should feed the Dog only after you have eaten.  Pack Leader eats first.  You put the food down, if they sniff and walk away you take it up and don't give it back until the next feeding time.  They don't get several opportunities to eat.  You control the food.  By not eating it and getting it again or your hand feeding they are showing you they are the pack leader.  I would also look at the amount of treating that you are doing.  Doesn't take to many calories to maintain 35 lbs so he might just not be hungry.

[Tracy & Teddy]

Great info about the pack leader. We did read some stuff about that when we first got him, and we started out trying to eat before him, but given that we feed him three times a day and at different times than we eat it was proving to be pretty difficult, lol. The hand-feeding makes sense, though. I do like doing that but it probably isn't sending the best message. :) I am in line with the feeding guidelines on the bag but he might just be picky!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

I agree with the concept of putting his food down, don't think he needs tethered though. If he's hungry he'll eat. Take the food up in 10-15 minutes and don't feed again until the next meal. The topper thing can be a slippery slope I've heard. That can create a picky eater. I'd also recommend joining the food group. Check into your particular brand, so many foods seem good until you look at them closely, and find out they are filled with a bunch of garbage. Karen does a great job of helping us all in the food group.
Your amounts do sound very high. Yogi is 38#'s. He is full grown, but he gets 1 3/4 cup a day and is maintaining a very healthy weight.
Good luck!

[Tracy & Teddy]

Thanks a lot for all of the tips! The ingredients on his food are really great so I am pretty happy with it; I just hope that he likes it. I will definitely be careful with the toppers. Don't want him to learn to be picky forever. :D

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The food is on the Food Group's list of Recommended Brands, it's made by petcurean, and it's a good quality food, so kudos to your breeder.

We do have lots of tips on feeding picky eaters in The Food Group, where this discussion probably should be, lol. :)

And it sounded like too much food to me too, but i just check the feeding guidelines and it's the correct amount. It's not a grain free food, so you have to feed more. 

The allergies should not have an affect on his appetite. But Benadryl is not your best choice of antihistamine (lots of info on this here in the Health group, too) and could possibly be affecting his appetite. GP vets are not well-versed in treating allergies, and don't seem to know that the second generation antihistamines (Claritin, Zyrtec, etc) are more effective for allergy itching and have fewer side-effects than Benadryl. 

Sneezing and coughing are not symptoms of allergies in dogs. It's possible that he may have picked up a little virus that is affecting his appetite, but the vet should know that. 

I'd stop the hot dogs. I'm a firm believer in "pilling" dogs and not trying to get them to eat a pill as a treat. You're going to have to give many a pill over the course of Teddy's life, especially if he does really have allergies, so it's a good idea to learn how to give pills now. If you have to use something to hide the pill, a tiny little dab of some soft food like cream cheese, peanut butter, mashed sweet potatoes, or even baby food should work. 

I would not switch his food. Eventually he will lose interest in the new food too, and that's how you create a picky eater, constantly switching foods and adding toppings in an attempt to entice the dog to eat. The dog learns that if he holds out long enough, he might get something better. As I said, we have tons of discussion on picky eaters in TFG, so I'm not going to duplicate the info here, but a normal healthy dog will not starve himself. Feed him at set mealtimes, give him a fixed amount of time to eat, and then take the food away and do not offer any food until the next scheduled mealtime. And at his age, Tedddy should be switched to two feedings per day.

I'd also stop the tethering at mealtimes, it may be creating unpleasant associations. Assuming you are feeding him in the kitchen, sit down nearby and have a snack or a beverage when you give Teddy his meals; keep him company. Many dogs prefer to eat when someone is nearby.

[Tracy & Teddy]

Thanks so much, Karen! I appreciate the lengthy and helpful response.

I definitely love the food that we are feeding him so I'd love to not have to switch it. Actually, your tip about sitting with him has worked out amazingly the last two times. I didn't sit with him and eat myself, but I did just sit on the floor with him while he ate. I got up at one point and he followed me, so I went back to the floor again and he scarfed down the whole meal! That was amazing. I hope that it keeps up because if so, that's probably all that it was. I did sit with him the first few weeks because I couldn't stop petting him and loving on him since he was so darn cute, so I probably created a pleasant association for him and I'm betting that's why he won't eat as much when I am not sitting with him. :)

Interesting info about Benadryl--I will definitely look into switching to something else. Ideally I'd love to find out what exactly he is allergic to, but who knows if that is even possible. His hot spots have gone away and he isn't itching as much but I don't know if it's the Benadryl or just a "time has passed" sort of thing.

Thanks also for the tips about the proper group--I joined both this group and the food one and I felt like this might have been more of a medical thing, but upon reflection it definitely belonged in the food group! I will poke around there for sure for other similar questions and answers.

I have been struggling knowing whether I should move him to two feedings per day or not; it seemed like there was so much ambiguity out there surrounding when was a good age to do it.

Thanks again!