9 week old puppy will not eat

[Stacy, Winnie,Chewy & Pongo]

I picked up my pup from the breeder last Friday and was given what I was told was the food she has been eating from the breeder.  Pro Plan puppy Savor she wont eat more than 3 bits of it.  I feed her once in the morning and again in the evening she wont eat more than a few kernels.  If I had to guess she has eaten less than a cup of food since I got her.  She Loves treats though and will gobble them up one after another.  I thought It might be the food so I bought Orijin puppy for her she wont eat that either.  Not sure what to do now its obviously not a digestion problem or she would not be eating treats.

[Carrie Shepherd]

I'm not a vet and by far not a dog specialist but sounds like your little lady is trying to train you:)  Doodles are so smart!!!  My Lucy is a picky eater and I have gone out of my way to find what works for her, $100 of dollars of different type of foods and she always goes back to what we started with.  Also, Lucy is not a big eater in the a.m. she's an evening eater and would like to graze at her leisure.  I have read over and over don't let them graze but for us it works.  Good Luck and maybe stop giving her treats, she will eat when she's hungry....

[Laura and Angus]

Congratulations on the new baby! Have you tried giving the food AS treats? Some people do hand feeding of meals in the beginning. Another option might be to get those toys that release kibble a few pieces at a time, which makes eating like a game. I would probably stop the treats altogether because treats are always more enticing...I'm sure others will have additional thoughts too!  

[Stacy, Winnie,Chewy & Pongo]

Yeah the little she has eaten is what I hand fed her :/

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's really important to stay near your puppy when you feed her, to keep her company. She's used to eating in a group, never alone. Even at 11 years old, Jack will stop eating if I leave the kitchen. And keep distractions to a minimum. That means no loud voices, nobody coming in and out of the room, no kids playing nearby, etc. 

Another factor may be the bowl. Some dogs have an aversion to certain materials. You might try using a paper plate for now. 

Is it possible that your breeder was moistening the food with water? 

[Stacy, Winnie,Chewy & Pongo]

Ill try moistening her food at evening meal tonight.  We already keep distractions at a minimum when its feeding time.  I dont like purina though and I want to switch her food, is it a bad time to do that?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We typically advise that you don't change anything about a puppy's diet for the first two weeks after you bring her home. This is why:

Many, many doodle puppies come home with giardia and other parasites. Giardia has a 10-14 day incubation period, so it won;t show up in a fecal test right away. The excitement and stress of leaving the mother, the litter, and the only home the puppy has ever known can contribute to tummy troubles, too. And an 8 week old puppy has only been eating solid food of any kind for about 4 weeks, so the digestive system is very immature.

We have even had members whose brand new puppies had serious health issues resulting in digestive symptoms.

If you change the food before the dog has had a chance to settle in, and before any parasite issues have time to show up in a fecal test, and the dog has diarrhea, you will not know if it's caused by the food change, stress, parasites, or a digestive illness, and the breeder will blame it on the food change. Thus begins a journey of frustration trying to figure it out and an endless round of food changes. You also don;t want to do anything to upset that delicate digestive system, as diarrhea can cause a young puppy to dehydrate very quickly, and is going to make housebreaking a whole lot tougher.

So you wait. If you leave the dog's diet exactly as is, and diarrhea develops, you have just eliminated any connection to food as the cause, and saved yourself a lot of aggravation. And of course, if the puppy comes home with diarrhea that doesn't resolve in a day, you know your breeder sent you a puppy with an intestinal parasite and you can probably recoup the cost of the fecal testing and the treatment, lol. (I personally would have fecal done on any new puppy I got, along with a general once-over at the vet's office, but parasites may not show up right away.)

So wait at least two weeks. If, after two weeks, the stool is firm and regular and everything seems fine with the pup's digestion, you can start changing her over. Make only one change at a time. 

But since you've already introduced Orijen and treats, you might as well try changing. Problem is, change to what? If she isn't eating the food she supposed got at the breeder's, and she won't eat Orijen, I have no idea what she will eat, lol. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was just looking at the ingredients in the Pro Plan Puppy Savor, and they among the worst I've ever seen. Truly horrendous. So switching foods might be a very good idea. 

[Stacy, Winnie,Chewy & Pongo]

Im surprised the breeder fed them this 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It is probably cheap.

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

I'd try feeding her from a crate, too. Since she came from the breeder eating Purina, she very well may have been fed in a crate and is seeking the "security" of that.

My Harper is almost 6 months old. She didn't eat in a crate at the breeder, but I fed her in the crate when she was little to protect her food from chow-hound older brother Tenley. Now, if I try to get her to eat out of the crate, she acts weird about it and wants to be "under" something to eat. I don't particularly mind, though, since we feed raw and it traps her after she finishes until I have a chance to wipe her beard :)

[Stacy, Winnie,Chewy & Pongo]

She wont eat in the crate I did try that

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Has she lost weight?  Are you giving her so many treats that she isn't hungry? I am not a fan of treats except for specific training.