Anyway, it will be the goat's milk and cheesy bits later on then . . .

Some dogs you can wean off canned food, and some you must outwait. If the dog never did eat very well, and has seen the vet since the problem existed, you may be over feeding it. A vet check still won't hurt. Many dogs will wolf down more than is good for them and look for more. Others refuse to eat more than than they need. Your dog definitely should be narrower at the waist than the hips and chest. You should be able to easily feel the ribs, but not see them. Each dog is different. Standard recommendations are a good place to start, but each dog must have its food and exercise adjusted to its individual needs. This includes puppies. Many come from the breeder overweight. Little butter balls are cute, but leaner ones are healthier. the bigger the breed, the more important keeping them lean as puppies. You may want the vet to confirm your judgment. Adjust the dogs food and exercise as needed to reach its ideal body condition. Some German Shepherds and other breeds may refuse to eat enough to completely hid their ribs. As long as you are feeding a concentrated, meat based chow, the best thing is to accept it.

The worst thing you can do is to bribe a dog with rich foods into eating more than it needs. Instead, Put down the dish with what the dog should eat, and give it 15 minutes to eat. Then take it up. Do not give it anything to eat until its next scheduled meal. In a few days, it should be eating what it needs. Continue to check its ribs and adjust the food as needed. This is not easy. I had a Shepherd go 3 days on a few nibbles. I was a wreck, but she was fine. It is almost unknown for a healthy dog not to eat what it needs. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is less than the package says, and less than the owner thinks the dog should have. Many dogs are quite good at holding out for tastier chow. Like kids, sometimes it calls for tough love.

Well, she certainly liked the sardine

Minihaha, as I understand the rules, everybody is free to give their opinions. I have spent 10 years developing answers to common questions. By pasting in well prepared answers, I can give higher quality answers. I am not very good at typing or spelling. I see no reason to struggle to say the same thing again.

As a moderator, I think you have even stronger obligation to follow all the rules including

''When having a discussion or a debate, please do so in an adult, non-confrontational, non-condescending manner. Please respect the fact that everyone is allowed their own opinion even if you do not agree with it (no-ones asking you to respect their opinion, just respect the fact they are allowed it).''

Yes, I sent the OP a PM with a link in it to some scientific findings on the Purina site. It is unfortunate some find the truth objectionable.

I put nothing critical of you in that message.

Be prepared for a lot of bad advice from people with little or no experience or training.

''It is only natural the best informed people are outnumbered by the average ones.
I am working on our 19'th puppy since 1991. I have built on a foundation of the manual written by people that have the experience of teaching thousands of people how to housebreak puppies. It is unfortunate you are being mislead by a bunch of people too stubborn to see that there are those that know for more than they do. ''

'Good advice always was hard to find on the net, but it is more and more dominated by those that know less and less''

''Vics, let me point out that I likely have more experience housebreaking puppies than my critics put together. Count on them for the best of the 50's advice.''

I'm not a very regular contributor to this forum, but I have found it extremely helpful since becoming a member. I think it's unfortunate that so many threads seem to become slanging matches with the contributor known as Labman. I think it detracts from the helpfulness of this site.

Apologies for putting my tuppence in...