Training and Eating Issues...Need Advice.

[Lake Girl, Lizette]

Karen suggested that I post this question on our discussion forum. I have experienced eating issues with Molly. Now, with the advice from so many of my Doodle Kisses friends, I put her moistened Solid Gold puppy kibbles down....leave it for 20 or so minutes and pick it up. No treats in between. She took three hours to eat her dinner last night and refused to eat her breakfast this morning after I left it out for a hour. Next meal, I will leave it out for only 20 minutes. Since I am not going to allow treats in between until she starts to eat, what do I give during daily training sessions? I use the clicker method, command, click, and than treat when she correctly responds. Any advice from the experts...I greatly appreciate all your input. Thanks again....Lizette and Molly

[Adina P]

I would do training at each meal time and use part of her food as training treats. So if she gets 1 cup for one meal use as much of that 1 cup as you need during her training. Then whatever is left of that cup put in her bowl and leave down for 20 minutes.

Once her eating issues are resolved, you could cut up cheese or hot dogs into tiny pea sized bites and toss that around with an equal amount of Kibble so that the Kibble has an enhanced flavor and you can give some cheese or hot dog pieces without having stuffing her full of the extra stuff.

Another thing you could do is if she is motivated by anything else (playing tug, squeaky toys, etc.) You could use those as rewards--but it gets a little cumbersome doing it that way when learning something completely new for a puppy that's just starting training.

[22y8rmuouwttt]

Hi Lizette,
My vet was concerend that Sophie (now 9 1/2 weeks) wasn't eating enough and gaining weight so she had me moisten Sophie's Solid Gold (which you are already doing) and then add a Tablespoon of Solid Gold canned food to make it more appealing - Sophie loved it! Maybe Molly could experience success at the dinner table with a bit of canned food and then get to experience Sophie's favorite thing in the whole world!! Homemade liver training treats!! Sophie will do any trick in the book for these and the recipe is healthy and makes a trillion for about $3.00 - I have weeks and weeks stored in the freezer! Click on the link for the recipe:

http://www.mydogtrainer.com/freedogtrainingtips/dog-treat-recipe.htm

Good Luck! Jane and Sophie (and soon to be Solomon!!)

[Lake Girl, Lizette]

Thanks Jane for the info...that has been my main concern her slow weight gain. I tried three canned products and never tried Solid gold canned food. I will check out the homemade treats. Thanks for the info. I assume you are about to get another doodle...Solomon. Congratulations...we are looking forward to our Nestle who will join our family after the holidays. All the best...Lizette and Molly

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Maybe Molly's just not hungry when you give her the kibble... my dogs don't eat either if they're not hungry! Is she underweight? Does she need to eat when you want her to? I leave kibble out for my dogs all day long, and they eat whenever they get hungry. Rocky mainly eats at night, when the house is quiet. I find that perfectly reasonable, and see no reason to have them eat on command - the only downside of free-feeding really is that they poop more than once/day... For treats or training purposes, I use their favorite snack in small dosages - something other than regular kibble, like cheese or lamb treats, which they both love.

I remember getting into power struggles with my son over eating when he was little, and decided I wasn't going to go there with my dogs - free feeding is stressfree for me, but it obviously doesn't work for dogs who like to overeat.

[Cam & Oski]

Sounds like Molly is Oski's younger sister. He did the same thing when he was younger. It drove me bonkers. He's not very food oriented & really picky. He'd rather play than eat & when he went through his "I'm sick of this flavor/brand/..." episodes he'd eat a couple bites & bonk at the dog park because he didn't have enough energy to keep up with his buddies :P

Eva's method seems to work well for Oski too: we let him graze all day long & I mix in about 2 tbsp of canned food with his kibble (He's picky enough that even with the canned food he wasn't that interested if it wasn't the right kibble--finally succeeded with Merrick Cowboy Cookout, Merrick Wilderness Blend, Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Fish which we alternate once the 15# bag runs out, more than that & he gets sick of the flavor & stops eating.) He's pretty picky about treats (it's sort of embarrassing because people think he's cute & want to give him treats but if he doesn't like it he spits it out) but does well with Lakse Kronch wild salmon dog treats & STAM peanut butter & blueberry treats (http://stamtreats.com/index.html). Free-feeding wouldn't work for a dog that overeats but since eating is low on his priorities to the point that sometimes he'll forget to eat, this works for us. He ends up going poop 2-3X/day--whenever we take him for walks/to the park.

Good luck! I remember your pain :^)

[Lake Girl, Lizette]

Eva, Right now Molly will not eat dry kibble. I tried leaving it out for her and she never touched one piece all day. I know because I only left like ten pieces. If she eats, she prefers the soft but everyone says that I should not leave moistened kibble out because it gets bad.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

My Mom's dog was like that, until she got really hungry, and then she started eating the kibble... it took 3 days of hunger striking, but she finally gave in and now eats her kibble just fine ! I'm not saying you should necessarily starve Molly out, but she may be a tad stubborn, and has decided to wait for something better to come along... I'm sure you're feeding her quality kibble, so she should be able to eat it unless she has gum disease, or teeth problems... my dogs sometimes won't eat for a day or two and then pig out later. I let them self-regulate, and they are just fine; I just have to watch how many treats I feed Lilo, ' cause she LOVES treats!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I agree with Eva. Unless you want to continue to have a picky eater, food down for 20 minutes and pick it up. Quit changing kibble. When she gets hungry she will eat. I went into this in more detail in a reply to this in the food group. You are almost certainly confusing her. When you potty trained her you used praise when she went in the right place. Since you have been so worried about her eating I am sure when she does eat, from your fingers, and/or with you very near, whatever, she is getting praised. Even if it is only by your presence or body language. Just put the food down, walk away, return in twenty minutes, pick up what is left with no comment. Three days and she will be hungry enough to eat without praise. She is not giving in, she will just be hungry and willing to eat without you near. You will lessen her anxiety about eating in this way and you will both be happier. She is going to be okay as long as she has plenty of water available and gets exercise. You, however, may need a little chocolate or whatever to get you through. Train with praise only for the time it takes to sort out the eating. Dogs were trained for years and years without treats. Some trainers still use praise only, some lure, some treat , some use a combo. My guess is that Molly loves your attention and praise and time with her will train her just as easily as with treats. Some dogs ( not Molly obviously) are so food obsessed that treats only add to the confusion of training and these dogs do better with just praise. Take care.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think Lizette has the feeding issues figured out now, after much discussion in another forum, and is really asking more about using treats for training without screwing up her new feeding program...or as Adina suggested, another training reward other than treats?

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha didn't eat her kibble when she first came to live with us. It was the Royal Canine Large Breed. Because of the discussion on DK regarding 'good vs bad' kibble, I changed hers app a month ago to the Solid Gold Puppy. She wouldn't eat it unless I added chicken broth to it.
Approx 3 weeks ago I changed her kibble to Whole Food Holistic and she gobbles it down! Maybe Molly just doesn't like it. Samantha didn't.
At school, I was using cookies as her treats; and she got a lot. She was getting a belly so I started using her kibble (the old one) as the treats. She did eat it then because she was excited in class I think she would have eaten anything.
Good Luck!

[Lake Girl, Lizette]

Adrianne, I think it was Karen that uses Whole Food Holistic...I cannot find it on the internet to see if any stores carry it here in Conroe. Is this a brand name?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Nope, I don't use it...that was that confusion in The Food Group discussion when I moved everyone's posts to a new category, and everything ended up under my name, lol! Adrianne uses it; it's the Whole Foods Market store brand. I think they're nation-wide.