Finicky with Food

[Brittney & Cally]

I am asking this for a friend with a ALD.

Here is the back story.

They have a 7-9month old Australian Labradoodle. I forget how old. They are first time dog owners. They started feeding her when they brought her home at 8 weeks from their hand because they felt bad she was chasing her food in the bowl since it was a little big. She is now 7-9 months and she will maybe eat a meal every other day and I am not sure if there is a correlation between the two things. They feed her Iams (which I am not a fan of) and they have tried putting things in her food and that works for a few days and then she is over it. She will sometimes eat if you just put her food on the ground instead of the bowl. I have made suggestions but they just want to believe they have the perfect puppy and ignore that she sometimes goes two days with out eating a meal. They now are trying tough love and only putting food out for twenty minutes then taking it up. I cannot give that much help because all my dogs have always been fine with eating, in fact after meals they want more...haha

I have suggested switching foods to a better kind. I suggested Fromm because that is what my dogs are on. I suggested switching bowls because maybe she does not like the sound of her collar clinging against the stainless steal bowl. but other than that I cannot really help so I am hoping all of you may have some experience with it.

She eats treats fine

I am not judging on any of this I just want you to have the whole story so you can give the best suggestions

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's the thing. It's very nice of you to be concerned about your friend's dog, but clearly they don't want advice. If they don't want it from a friend, they for sure don't want it from a stranger, i.e. me, lol.

There are tons of discussions here in TFG about picky eaters. It's very common. Here's my favorite, you can try doing a search for others. 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/an-ode-...

Your friends are actually doing the right thing by picking up the bowl after 20 minutes, whether she eats or not. While it would be a good thing for them to switch foods, because Iams is not recommended, switching foods usually doesn't help; eventually the dog stops eating whatever it is. And a normal healthy dog will not starve herself, so if she has normal energy, I wouldn't worry. 

[BG and Gavin]

LOL - poor Jarka!  That discussion always reminds me of the old adage "pride goeth before a fall."

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

But she's a good sport about it; she knows it is helping other dogs and owners, and I can't help thinking she must be secretly proud to have made this old grouch smile. 

[BG and Gavin]

For sure! Jarka is the best :)

[Brittney & Cally]

Hey Karen, it is not that they don't want my help it's more I do not know how to help them because I do not have experience with it. They have asked their vet and the vet was not much help so they are kinda stuck and the other people they have asked cannot help either because they do not have experience with picky eaters.

Thanks for the advice. I will look at the other discussions!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They really don't need help, if the dog is healthy, the vet thinks her weight is good, and she has normal energy. They should continue to feed her twice a day at set times, give her 20 minutes to eat, and then pick up the food and not offer more until the next scheduled mealtime. She will soon learn that food is not always available, so she'd better eat when it is, or wait for the next meal. 

I doubt that the bowls have much to do with it, and stainless is really the best thing anyway, IMO. 

Fromm is a good choice for picky eaters, because the 4 Star Line is designed to be rotated from one bag to the next, so that the dog doesn't get bored. And with so many formulas to choose from, most dogs like it a lot. 

[Deborah Brown]

I only have one caveat to the advice given.  Sometimes a dog won't eat if one of the ingredients is not agreeing with him/her.  For years, I thought my Charlie was just a picky eater.  Then I started tracking the varieties that he balked at and realized it was anything containing potato. Once we eliminated potato, he eats every meal.  He still eats slow and less than the other dogs but he hasn't missed a meal in months.

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

I had never had a picky eater before Lola and I went through all the tricks in the book trying to get her to eat the way all my other dogs have.  Finally I just gave up and accepted she will be a grazer/free feeder.  She is happy and healthy, the perfect weight and her stools are good.  I am happy with the arrangement too.  The one thing I would recommend in your case is for the puppy to eat a higher quality food.  Although if the owners aren't looking for advice there isn't much you can do about it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It appears though that when these people try doing what you do, the dog doesn't eat at all for days, and this is worrying them.