Frustrated and need encouragement!

[The Food Group]

I brought my dogs over to my friend's house the other day.  She feeds her dogs Chef Michael's (made by Purina).  She had a bowl of the food down for her dogs and Noah got wind of it and before I realized it, he had practically scarfed the whole thing down.  I have never seen him eat any food, other than my leftovers, as quickly as this.  

Why is it so difficult to produce healthy, quality food that is also palatable?  I know Purina sprays their food with fat and adds salt as well.  Is this what makes that food taste so good or could it be the corn, soy and wheat as well?  I don't understand why Noah would like this sub-par food over the better brands.

I have literally tried almost every brand out there:  Orijen, Acana, Nature's Variety, Merrick, Solid Gold, Mulligan Stew, Evangers, Evo, Karma, Natural Balance, Ziwipeak, Stella & Chewy's, Honest Kitchen, Sojos, Halo, Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Timberwolf Organics, Pinnacle.  Also have tried a week of home-cooking with no success and raw didn't work out either as he lost interest.

So do I have the world's pickiest eaters?  Why does he like garbage instead of the expensive foods?  It would be nice if Noah actually ate and enjoyed food.  Noah is 25lbs and according to the feeding guidelines on the food bags, he should be eating at least 1.5 - 2 cups of food a day.  I'm lucky if he eats 1 cup a day.

Is there anything else I can try?  I have thought about ordering Fromm's, but I don't like relying on UPS or FedEx to deliver my food.  Last time I ordered food, the shipment mysteriously disappeared and it was a huge pain dealing with FedEx.  I have a feeling Noah would turn his nose up to Fromm's as well.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There's a phenomenon well known to mothers called "Other People's Food". Other People's Food (Henceforth to be known as OPF) is food that your child loves anywhere outside of your home. It is usually something you can't believe your child would even tolerate on his plate, like spinach. If you buy the exact same food and give it to your child at your house, he won't eat it.
Dogs love OPF, too.
Jack acts like the Milkbone dog biscuits the bank teller at the drive-up window gives him are the most delicious thing he's ever eaten. I swear to you that he drools down the side of my car while he's waiting for them. At home, he wouldn't touch one if he was starving to death. He eats NV Prairie Lamb and Rice out of the schnauzer across the street's bowl, and he wouldn't touch it back when I was feeding Prairie. It's OPF.
But, the sprayed on rancid fat & other artificial flavorings in the crap foods is a major draw; MAJOR. You just posted about how your dogs love to roll in smelly things. Dogs love to eat smelly things, too. Every single dog here, (except maybe the ones on homecooking, and I wouldn't even bet on that) will eat the crappiest corn & unnamed animal fat treats in the bulk bins at the pet supple store. I guarantee it. I wrote about this with Jack in another discussion, I'll have to find it. It might make you laugh, and if not, at least it will show you you're not alone.
You do not have the world's pickiest eater. I do. Jack has been leaving the 6 Fresh Fish Orijen he used to love in the bowl all day lately. He has stopped eating chicken jerky of any kind, and won't even take a smoked beef tendon that he used to love. I have given up trying to find new things to tempt him, and I suggest you do the same. If he eats fine, and if he doesn't that's fine, too. He will not starve, he's a big fat doodle even though he barely eats anything. AND...I finally picked up 2 dozen bones & chews that have been lying in his basket for the past however long and put them away, leaving him only a few things, and guess what? Tonight, he was having a wonderful time chewing on a rawhide roll that he's been turning up his nose at for a month. This too is like kids; if they have too many toys to choose from, they don't play with anything. If you pack most of them up and only bring out a few at a time, they are interested in them again.
With all this experience, you are going to be a wonderful mom to your human kids some day, Jane.

[Tina J.]

Funny you should say that about being a wonderful mom to human kids... cause I was hoping for advice that I could apply to a human child!

My pups eat great since switching to home cooking, my children not so much... And I KNOW it's very frustrating. That being said though, my kids aren't skinny... so I guess they're eating enough.

I wonder, is Noah underweight?

[Tina J.]

Thanks. I sure hope you're right! As moms you want your kids to like what you cook for them and you want them to WANT to eat. Same with our doggy kids. It worried me when my doodle, Boo wouldn't eat. (when she was still on dog food)

But none of them are underweight and none of our doctors have voiced concerns. I think we're doing well... us Moms.

Tina J.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's one discussion I posted back in 2008:

December 13, 2008 at 3:30pm
I thought about posting this as one of my whines in "Come have a Little Whine with Me", but I have a feeling something more sinister may be going on here than just Jackdoodle's picky eating habits. I have not gotten around to reading Pet Food Politics yet, and I am wondering if it addresses this issue:
Do the dog food companies put something in the crap foods & treats to make dogs like them? Is there some kind of scent enhancer or flavor booster or something that attracts Jack to the crappiest stuff at the pet supply store? Or is it just him?
At Pet Supplies Plus today, he was just mesmerized by some bags of Science Diet kibble stacked in the middle of the aisle. I couldn't pull him away. Then, while cruising the bins of bones, rawhides, etc., he chose a big roll of some kind of chopped up yellow rawhide that was clearly marked "Made in China". At the bulk biscuit bins, he started gobbling up some hard bone-shaped biscuits like he had never eaten before- he stuck his whole head in the bin. (He is indulged by the staff, as they hear the cash registers ringing every time he walks in the door...they know Mommy is a sucker.)
Anyway, I looked at the ingredients in these biscuits, and almost barfed...(wheat, more wheat, pork fat, 'animal fat' (one wonders what animal, if they could not even name it) etc.
All-natural gourmet dog biscuits from the specialty dog bakery, he spits out on the pantry floor. Unknown animal fat, gimme some of that. $40 a bag holistic kibble, ehhhh. Science Diet, yummy! And as I said once before, I notice more of an appetizing aroma coming from the crap stuff. Is there something to this, or is it just my nutcase?

Reply by LynneNJ on December 13, 2008 at 4:18pm
From page 12 of, Foods Pets Die For, "Fats can be sprayed directly on pet food or mixed with other ingredients. Fats give off a pungent odor that entices your pet to eat the garbage. These fats are sourced from restaurant grease, which is often rancid and certainly unfit for human consumption. Another main source of fat comes from the rendering plant. This is obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial rendering process." (Do you know what really happens in rendering plants?) The grease removed from the rendering process is used to entice a hungry dog or cat. All of it is disgusting and should be criminal.
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/commerc...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Also, sit yourself down and read through "Come Have a Little Whine With Me". It's a place for those of us with picky doodle to vent. Go ahead. It's really one of the funniest discussions on DK, if I do say so myself, and it will make you feel better.
Come Have a Little Whine With Me

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You know what? No matter how enticing or delicious any food would be, high quality or not, after a couple of weeks, Noah is going to lose interest. That's just how he is. I guarantee you that if you started feeding him that Chef Michael's, the same thing would happen. You would end up going through all the crap foods in addition to the good ones.
So pick one and stick with it. I personally like Orijen above everything else. When I started feeding it, I bought the 6 Fresh Fish. Jack never liked any food so much. For two weeks, he stood by his food bin drooling before meals, and polished his bowl as soon as I put it down, every meal. Then he started walking away, grazing, leaving food in the bowl, etc. I bought the Adult formula; he ate with more enthusiasm, but not like he did when I first bought the Fish formula.
Then they came out with the Regional Red. Back to polishing the bowl at every meal. It's still his favorite.
So I give him the Regional Red for one meal each day, and rotate the other two flavors for the other meal.
And if it really bothers you that Noah doesn't eat much, start adding a small amount of fresh food to his dinner every night. It's easy. A little chopped hard-boiled egg or scrambled egg, a little plain chicken, turkey or beef, lean pork once in a while, a little broiled fish, canned salmon or tuna...you don't have to cook special meals or spend a lot of time on prep work. I can usually just set aside some of whatever protein we're having for dinner to give Jack. I use eggs or canned fish when we're having something he can't eat, like spaghetti. I scatter in with the kibble, and he ends up eating the whole bowl of food; kibble, too.
Noah will not starve, I promise you. And like I said, good practice for that picky kid you're going to have one of these days!

[Melissa & Porter]

Fatty Boom Boom! ROFLMAO

Porter's official name as a puppy was Bernie but he also went by Fatboy :-) He was shorter and hungrier than all the other puppies in his litter. He still looks slim compared to a purebred lab, but compared to poodly-bodied doodles, and with his curly hair brushed into a poof, he looks like a fat black lamb.

He's been snubbing his nose at Cal Natural for a few days, but I think it is because he had a two-day sleepover at my neighbors and was able to beg more table food off her than he does off me. Today, he ate his kibble only AFTER eating a hard-boiled egg, licking the sardine and egg salad bowl, and eating half a sandwich my son didn't finish. Bad mommy, I know.

Oh, I meant to add: a little fresh-grated parmesan cheese on the food works like the rancid fat spray. I did this to get Porter to eat pumpkin.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Jane, Ned is 27 pounds and should be eating the same amount Noah eats, but he eats about 1/2 or 2/3 of a cup a day. He prefers to eat only once. Before we got Clancy, Ned usually ate his food at night when the lights were out. Now, he has no choice but to eat when everyone else does or it gets put up. We leave it down for only about 3 minutes or so. He still eats once a day - or less. He appears healthy so I am just not going to worry about it. If I really do want him to eat something, I can put a dollop of yogurt or a smidgen of peanut butter in it.

[Susan & Hogan (6/12/2009)]

We also seem to have a picky eater -- but it's kibble that he doesn't want to eat....no matter how much I doctor it up. However, he LOVES Stella & Chewy's freeze dried patties....In fact if I add Stella and Chewy's to his kibble, he will eat around the kibble until all the Stella's is gone. He is happy if I add shredded cheese, egg or yogurt to his meal of Stella & Chewy's.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri has become pickier as she has gotten a little older. She still finishes her bowl, but sometimes needs encouragement. Rotating the proteins of Fromm food really helps. She is currently eating pork - next week it is duck time. Jane, it really might be worth it to order a bag of Fromm and see what he does. Maybe a smaller bag just to see? Have you seen if a store will order it for you? Now I have a few stores in Nashville that carry Fromm, but before I had multiple places tell me they would start ordering it because the requests were coming in....

[Meridith and Lola]

Lola also used to be quite a picky eater but now she cleans her bowl. I now use mostly Fromms but then add some boiled chicken. I also just bought a can of Dogswell Vitality at Whole Foods. I mix in a heaping tablespoon and coat all the kibble with it and add the chicken. I also sometimes mix in a half of a Stella Freeze Dried patty instead of the chicken.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

I saw that you tried adding some fresh food on top of his dry, but have you tried any canned dog food mixed in? Just any of the canned stuff from the brands you already buy.

Also, and this is a BIG also, the dry food bags notoriously tell you to feed WAY more than almost every dog needs! Your Noah is 25 lbs and they want him to eat 2 c. per DAY???? My golden retriever Bruiser was 93 lbs and that is how much he ate per day (2 c.) to maintain a nice healthy weight. To me, Noah eating 1 c. per day sounds perfect. And if he isn't gaining or losing weight with that amount, then it is just right for him. Now maybe if he were a 25 lb. herding dog, hunting dog or full agility dog, he would need 2 c. per day. From my experience in clinics, I would NEVER tell an owner with a 25lb. dog to feed 2 c. per day, especially of a high quality food, where they are supposed to have to eat less of it anyway. (Unless that dog was a working dog as mentioned above).

The general rule to follow is this: If you dog is gaining too much weight, reduce by 25% per day. If you dog is too skinny, increase by 25% per day. If your dog is just right, then leave well enough alone! :)