Is your dog a picky eater?

[Hailey and Charlie]

I have a mini golden doodle, Charlie, he is going to be 10 months old on the 17th and he is a picky eater! We started with bil jac then realized how unhealthy it was and switched to wellness which he hated, then tried natural balance and he wasn't having it. At the moment he is eating Royal canin and was in love with it. I can tell he is getting over it because he isn't as enthusiastic about meal time. It's like I get that look of "oh this again?" I know I shouldn't be changing his food often. Any suggestions?

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle is a mini as well. She was a picky eater for the first 6 months or so. She ate Orijen puppy until she was about 7 months and then I switched to adult formula. It was a challenge to get her to eat those first few months. I took a spray bottle and moistened her food which helped. I also started taking the food away from her after the first 10 or 15 minutes if she was ignoring it. She didn't get fed again until dinner. After a week or so she learned she better eat when it was offered. She became a better eater, not great, but better. Now at a year and a half, she is a pig and just inhales her food. She is the polar opposite from her babyhood.

[Hailey and Charlie]

Thank you! When he starts skipping meals I will try wetting the food. At the moment he sits next to his bowl for a couple minutes then eats.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle would flat out not eat. I always sat with her so she wouldn't eat alone. It didn't matter though. I sprayed her food as a last resort. It helped a little. Then taking her food away if she wouldn't touch it after 15 minutes, helped some more. Still it took until she was about 9 months old, before she would eat all that was given to her. I went by the guidelines on the food bag. Maybe she just required less, I don't know.  No wonder she stayed so little for so long. She weighs 15lbs now at her full adult weight.

[Moe]

You can use me as a cautionary tale. I started wetting the food, switching foods, then adding toppings, mixing wet food then finally adding leftover human food. I created a monster. She became so picky she wouldn't even eat chicken. She was holding out of steak. It took a long time and the support of the food group  to finally fixed the problem. I didn't have a picky dog, I created one. 

Follow the feeding guidelines in the food group, don't add toppings, take the food up after 15 minutes and your dog will eventually learn the routine. Talking to my vet helped. She explained that if the dog is a healthy weight skipping a meal hear and there would not hurt. 

At the time I found this very stressful. Stay strong and don't cave!

[Hailey and Charlie]

Yes it is stressful! When we were using the wellness brand he would go a full day without eating and I was worried. This one currently is doing the trick. I just wondering if it's possible for a dog to get over a food like how we humans get over a food we eat often. If I ate chicken everyday I would get bored.

[Moe]

Dogs are not people, they don't have the same palate. Anthropomorphizing your pup is a slippery slope. This is exactly how I got into trouble. :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Amen, Moe.

[Moe]

lol I learned from the best. :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned often went a day and a half - two days without eating or eating just a tiny bit. When we travel in the RV, he still does.  His weight is perfect so I don't push it.  If there is a reason he MUST eat, I put some plain unflavored yogurt on the kibble.

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Head over to the food group- lots of advice on this topic as well as some guidance on choosing a high quality food (royal canin is not on the list) :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Hailey, please join the Food Group here, where we have all kinds of discussions and information about food and feeding as well as a list of recommended foods. Royal Canin and Natural Balance are not on it.

Wellness makes more than 20 different formulas in three different lines: formulas with grains, without grains, limited ingredient formulas, different protein sources, etc. All food brands do. When one doesn't work, it isn't necessary to completely switch brands, you can try a different formula or a different line within the same brand. Some lines are designed to be rotated between protein sources with each bag, so that the dog doesn't get bored with it. Fromm's Four Star line is one of those that works well for picky eaters. 

You are right that it's a huge mistake to keep changing foods in search of one he "likes". Here is a great discussion about that you will find both educational and entertaining: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/an-ode-...

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Maci was picky as a puppy. She would just kind of look at her food, then walk away. She was thin, but we stuck with picking up her food after 15 minutes. Eventually she got so she ate every meal, but it did take a couple weeks I think of only eating sporadically.
I did change her from Origen adult to the Acana fish. I think she liked it better. I may try the Origen adult again now though.
I think it was very important to stay consistent though with picking up the food.
Good Luck!