Finicky eater

[Adrien Watson]

Any suggestions?? We have a mini golden doodle. He may eat one day and then he walks over and sniffs the food and walks away at other times. He eats about 1-1/2 cups total all day. Sometimes he doesn't eat until after dinner

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My first suggestion would be to feed twice a day (provided he's older than 4 months old). Put the food in his dish at the regular mealtime (which needs to be the same every day, including on weekends), sit down nearby and have a snack or a cup of coffee yourself, give him 10 minutes to eat and then pick up the food and do not offer food again until the next scheduled mealtime. It's very important that you stay nearby and also limit distractions during that 10 minutes. That means nobody running in and out of the room, kids playing nearby, loud voices, shouting, roughhousing, etc. Nothing to distract him from the business at hand because something other than eating seems more interesting at the time.

 A normal healthy dog will not starve himself. He just needs to learn that food is not available any time he feels like having a mouthful, and that if he wants to eat, he needs to do it when he has the chance. He will quickly learn this, and it probably won't take more than a day or two. 

Here's my all-time favorite discussion about picky eaters. It's funny, but it's also very educational, lol.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/m/group/discussion?id=2065244%3ATopic%3...

[Susan and Bentley]

my Bentley is a mini also.  He is exactly the same way, and always has been,and I don't worry about it anymore.  He's never been the kind of dog to run to his bowl when we put his food out.  He is 3 years old.  He almost never eats during the day.  Most of the time he doesn't eat until 7pm and sometimes not till 9pm and he never finishes his food and he hates eating out of his bowl.  He is 23 lbs and the vet thinks he should lose a lb!  We tried different foods, he's just not very interested.  He always preferred eating out of a toy - like a treat ball he can push around.  And he also likes to be hand fed.  He's not too spoiled!  :)  But if he's healthy I really wouldn't worry about it.  They eat when they're hungry.

[Amy and Annabelle]

My questions are how much does your dog weigh, his activity level and the food you are feeding him and the weight guidelines. My 15lb mini Annabelle eats Orijen Six Fish. The feeding guidelines for that food for an active 22lb dog is 1 1/4 cups of food a day. Annabelle is offered 1/2 cup twice a day. Plus I give her 1/4 cup of plain non fat yogurt with fresh blueberries about mid day for a snack. On her very active days she will eat all that is given to her and want more. On more inactive days, she might only eat breakfast and her snack and turn her nose up at dinner and not eat until breakfast the next day.

[Adrien Watson]

Thanks for your help. Buoy weighs 29 lbs. We try to exercise him daily. Has anyone tried the Sojo food? We try to get him to eat several times a day, but I think we will just try in the am and pm. We have never left his food out as we have an old English sheep dog who loves eat.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, the title of that discussion I linked for you is "An Ode To Sojo's". 

[Amy and Annabelle]

I see he is a larger mini. I think offering his food twice a day is a good idea. I haven't tried any of the raw foods.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned has never been a consistent eater, especially when we are in our RV.  I just don't worry about it as he maintains his weight and is healthy.