Puppy Being Picky With Food

[Simsy23]

Hey everyone,

I recently got a 12 week old staffy pup, i kept him on a similar diet the breeders had him on which was chicken necks for breakfast and chicken mince with

purina puppy biscuits for dinner, However the vet told me not to feed him chicken necks? He loves them though and so far what ive read on here alot of yous are feeding the puppies chicken necks, suggestions?

Now to the problem, at dinner time, i always eat before him then prepare his dinner, although once he gets the food put down he picks at it a couple of times and just walks away, ive tried soaking the biscuits in warm water to soften them, mixed the biscuits in with mince, tried a beef dog role cut up and mixed with biscuits but he doesnt seem to eat much at all come dinner time, i leave the food there and in the morning hes still barely dented it..

Anyone have any ideas? new biscuits? some sort of wet food?

he also doesnt get very excited over treats, while trying to teach him things he sometimes just spits em out, (even before dinner) ive bought liver treats, and beef treats but he doesnt seem to be to interested which makes it hard to train him as he doesnt

any tips or tricks advice is welcomed,

Thanks

[persephone]

Hi

How long have you had pup , and has he been 'picky' since day one?

Are you using the same dry food? Will he eat exactly what he was getting at the breeders?

Why did the vet advise against feeding chicken necks?, and how many are you feeding at breakfast?

What chicken mince are you using?

Does he get/eat any table scraps or anything else ?

Tips & Tricks come once you know WHY pup is not eating ;), tho, providing there is not a health reason to account for not eating , or pup is simply full - the simplest thing is to prepare food ..put food down . leave pup and food together without distraction for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, anything uneaten gets calmly removed. NO FOOD/treats until next mealtime . Simple - and usually effective.

Dogs and pups can be trained without using food treats, believe it or not ;) it is a very popular way of doing it..and works well - however it is not essential.

Edited October 17, 2011 by persephone

[Dogsfevr]

First rule don't leave food down.

Pup will be teething & some can go off there food during this time .

As already mentioned how many times do you feed,what treats & could the portion size be too big.

What time do you feed??

You say similiar diet what exactly have you changed & have you asked the breeder there thoughts.

A simple diet change can mean alot to a pup so i would be looking at going back to there diet unless you have a good reason not to.

Your pup may also be missing the other s for eating competitively so you need to be the dogs comp,don't feed the same time,don't leave food down,if pup doesn't look hungry don't feed it you need to teach pup to embrace its food bowl not refuse it

[espinay2]

the vet told me not to feed him chicken necks?....... suggestions?

My suggestion is do your own research and decide what you want to feed your dog. FWIW I do feed a raw diet. I personally would be feeding something bigger than chicken necks (maybe carcasses or wings as a minimum) to a 12 week old staffy.

once he gets the food put down he picks at it a couple of times and just walks away

As long as there is no medical problem - it really just sounds like he is not hungry. A lot of people do have a habit of overestimating just how much their pup needs to eat. Your pup really does have a small stomach. No bigger than your fist really (and maybe just your palm if you are a bloke).

ive tried soaking the biscuits in warm water to soften them, mixed the biscuits in with mince, tried a beef dog role cut up and mixed with biscuits but he doesnt seem to eat much at all come dinner time, i leave the food there and in the morning hes still barely dented it..

Yep, sounds like he is not hungry. Be careful too doing this sort of thing and stressing over mealtimes etc as you can in fact create a picky eater out of a pup that simply didnt have the need to eat more. As suggested. Food down for 10 minutes, walk away and leave the pup to it, if it is not eaten pick it up until next mealtime. Also dont try adding/changing etc to try and 'tempt' the dog to eat. Just put the food in the bowl that you want the dog to eat. Make sure that you are feeding smaller amounts of what he needs to eat so he gets the nutrients he needs when he is eating. You can start by just putting a small amount in the bowl then adding a little more if he eats it and still looks to you for more food. This saves on waste too as you wont be throwing out heaps of uneaten food.

he also doesnt get very excited over treats, while trying to teach him things he sometimes just spits em out, (even before dinner) ive bought liver treats, and beef treats but he doesnt seem to be to interested which makes it hard to train him as he doesnt

any tips or tricks advice is welcomed,

The most important thing to remember is that a 'Reward' is something the DOG actually finds rewarding. not what YOU think the dog should find rewarding. This may mean that the treats you are using are not 'high value' enough for your dog and you need to try different ones eg roast chicken, cabanossi, cheese, sausage, mild salami sticks, roast beef or steak, cat treats, mcdonalds cheeseburgers, ice cream etc etc etc (think laterally - you may need to be a detective with some dogs to find out what pushes the buttons) - personally I find that a lot of the dryer commecial dog treats dont always make the grade for a lot of dogs. Or it may be that your dog find something else more rewarding. A ball, a sqeaky toy, a fluffy toy, a game of fetch, a game of tug, a scratch in that special spot etc etc etc. As I said - a reward is what the DOG finds rewarding - not what you think should be rewarding.

Also note that if your dog is not hungry - as the above suggests might be the case (a healthy dog does not starve itself) - then it will be less likley to respond to food rewards anyway. Cutting down the food and taking the treats/rewards into account when working out food intake can help.

Edited October 17, 2011 by espinay2

[Guest english.ivy]

I had a terrible time with my Belgian Shepherd puppy, but now at three years of age, she eats whatever she is given

I put down her food and gave her 15 mintues to eat it, I left her alone in a quiet room for that period. After the 15 minutes was up, the food went in the bin and our day went on and we did that same routine the next meal.

I thought I was going to go mad, throwing out so much food but it worked and didn't take her long to work it out.

Try chicken/turkey wings. Chicken necks are too small. Brisket bones are also good, my two love them. I also sometimes find chunky "soup" bones.

[Chris the Rebel Wolf]

the simplest thing is to prepare food ..put food down . leave pup and food together without distraction for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, anything uneaten gets calmly removed. NO FOOD/treats until next mealtime . Simple - and usually effective.

Strongly agree with this. I had a Jack Russell x Chihuahua who was very fussy as a pup. Three weeks of tough love, putting his food down and taking it away 15 minutes later if uneaten, no fuss made, and he ate whatever brand of food he was given

Try some different brands of treats to find a favourite. I have had a lot of luck with getting different dogs to accept Jerhigh chicken treats.

[Bullbreedlover]

First rule don't leave food down.

Pup will be teething & some can go off there food during this time .

As already mentioned how many times do you feed,what treats & could the portion size be too big.

What time do you feed??

You say similiar diet what exactly have you changed & have you asked the breeder there thoughts.

A simple diet change can mean alot to a pup so i would be looking at going back to there diet unless you have a good reason not to.

Your pup may also be missing the other s for eating competitively so you need to be the dogs comp,don't feed the same time,don't leave food down,if pup doesn't look hungry don't feed it you need to teach pup to embrace its food bowl not refuse it

I agree with this.

Dont leave food down/ And of course it hasnt got the competition for food that it was used to having.

Our new baby has been with us for 5 weeks and has put on a kilo a week. But it has been a hard road though as he has been very picky.

He is on Proplan, mince, chicken breasts, natural dog roll, cheese, yoghurt, sardines, cooked offal. I partially soak his Proplan as he is teething but to help with this he gets lots of chew toys.

He is now 16 weeks old and is on 3 meals a day still but sometimes only has two larger meals. Food is never left with him as I want him to be willing to happily eat. We have never left food with our dogs. When he doesnt finish a meal it may get mixed with the next one, depending on what is in it, but it doesnt get wasted as we have two Bullmastiffs who happily consume what he leaves.

Actually he doesnt leave all that much really.

Yes I have resorted to hand feeding, (sometimes I break the rules), and while I have never had to hand feed the Bullmastiffs, I am also teaching him to respect me and how I want him to eat. He is not a scoffer of food which is good. Last thing I need is a Bulldog who scoffs food and will be food aggressive. He does of course eat by himself as well. All my dogs are taught from an early age to respect the hands that feed them. I never put them in a situation though where they compete with one another for their food.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Bullbreedlover

[suziwong66]

Try chicken/turkey wings. Chicken necks are too small. Brisket bones are also good, my two love them. I also sometimes find chunky "soup" bones.

i freeze 3 chicken necks together in a lump and Wilbur (lab) 17 weeks gets them frozen. It makes him slow down and not gulp them whole. I do the same with chicken frames.

[jamesn184]

I've found that my puppy is a slow eater, she will just eat her kibble over time or if shes really hungry it will be gone in 10mins or so..

I also found chicken jerky treats work very well as she goes crazy for them.. to the point that I've got to start training her to take the treat softly.. not snapping it out of my hand while my fingers are still holding it !

[WreckitWhippet]

Chicken necks are fine but your SBT pup could certainly be moving onto chicken wings, carcass, lamb flap, turkey necks, rabbit and a bit later roo tail. You need to make sure the bone is consumable, so no big/hard weight bearing bones.

You may find that the pup simply prefers raw and that's not uncommon.

We have fed and raised on all raw without any problems. There's lots of good info on feeding raw available, if you choose to go that way.

If you are going to stick to a meat and kibble meal, seperate them and feed raw for one and kibble for the other. Give the pup 10-15 minutes to eat it and then take it away, offer nothing until the next meal time. No treats or snacks.

Which of the Purina's are you feeding ? If it's Supercoat or Bonnie, I'd be ditching that and looking at a premium , such as Proplan, Advance or Royal Canin. The SBT's do very well on Royal Canin

[Mason_Gibbs]

Key question how much of everything are you feeding per day??

[Dame Aussie]

I'm so over Vets saying you shouldn't feed bones etc. It's absolute rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe give your pup bigger bones like shanks, lamb necks etc if you are worried about the size, and as others have said take the food off him if he isn't eating it. He will eat when he is hungry.

Good luck with it!

[Simsy23]

Thanks for the advice, i will start freezing his necks as he tends to scoff them very fast, at dinner he gets 1 cup of purina biscuits mixed with egg or with dog roll, sometimes he eats sometimes he picks and leaves but ive started taking it away so hel learn ,

Thanks guys

[Mason_Gibbs]

A friend of mine tried to get her dog to eat a certain food for 2 months, he just picked at it, eventually changed foods and now no hassles at all....

[SparkyTansy]

Agree with what others have said but also want to point out that i raised a litter on raw/kibble mix and they would go for the raw over the kibble every time (ie would leave their kibble meal but wolf down the raw meal). i was told that I shouldn't feed the raw if they don't want to eat the kibble because it would make them picky, but I think it just goes to show what their instincts are telling them. These pups were eating frames by 7 weeks of age (Weimaraners). Upgrade your pup from necks to wings and the other suggestions above.

[Kiara&Heidi]

If he likes the chicken necks I would look into a raw diet - in my opinion there is no better diet for dogs but that's for you to decide. Otherwise I can recommend BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) patties which are quite expensive if you are feeding anything bigger than a Chihuahua, but you could mix one in with his dry food (it is a mushy texture). My Chihuahua is fussy but she will not turn down her BARF - it smells quite strong which I suppose dogs love.

ETA: Can you post some pictures of him :D

Edited October 26, 2011 by Kiara&Heidi