Help with picky dog please

Hi

I have managed to create a very fussy eater. I have tried various kibble/wet food but none with much success. I know I have created the problem as he will wait to see if there is something better on offer, in the past I have relented and offered something else. Only chicken will do, I don't mind feeding chicken but it doesnt seem a balanced it to me.

I have tried putting the food down and taking it away after half an hour, he simply doesn't eat it, goes into the garden, eats grass and is sick because his tummy is empty. The other evening he refused his dinner, found a rawhide chew he'd hidden, threw it up on the hall carpet the following morning.

I don't think he is poorly because if I offer fresh chicken / treat biscuits he wolfs them down.

I won't do raw because I have children and I can handle the thought of him having raw meat on his face and then licking the kids.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get him into a better eating routine?

Many thanks.

I do appreciate your concerns over eating raw & licking the children's face but believe me his tongue has been in far worse places than a bowl of raw meat and it really is the best diet they can get (balanced out with other things).
Have you tried cooking some brown rice with some pigs or ox liver or maybe maybe making a chicken casserole. Not as extremem as it sounds. The chicken would be leftovers or cheap tesco basic with water, vegetables etc (no stock cubes) and when cooked take bones out and liquidise the casserole. You can freeze in portions and use a portion as a gravy on his kibble.
alternately buy some really cheap mince (most good butchers do a pet mince which is basically the end of the day's meat scraps all minced up. Cook it if you really don't want to feed raw, pref with some veg and make that into portions to mix with kibble.
I had a dog who had been so stressed by her previous life she refused to eat most days and was seriously underweight. I found the homeopathic remedy alfalfa worked for her, i got it from ainsworths.

Remember you are talking about animals that lick their bottoms, like eating excrement and drinking from puddles, let's face it, how fussy can they actually be? And also remember this when being concerned about your dog licking the kids!

I have never had a fussy dog, cat, horse or child (either of my own or who I have cared for) that is because the choices in my house are "eat what is put in front of you or go without".

Funnily enough none have chosen to starve or developed an eating disorder.

You have to release your "inner Nazi" and demonstrate to your dog that these are the rules going forward.

Unfortunately most owners believe their dogs will expire if they do not eat every day (hence the obsession of stuffing dogs who have diarrhoea and sickness with unwanted and unneeded food).

They won't.

Dogs are designed to cope with periods of fasting and gorging.

So, as long as they are drinking, they will be fine (this advice is for adult dogs)

Halve your dog's current rations.
Divide that in half.

Put small bowl down for no longer than 15 minutes and do NOT hover, coax, speak or otherwise communicate your anxiety to the dog, just place and move away.

Then remove.

Offer NOTHING (no treats etc) until the next meal time.

Repeat.

The dog may hold out for a few days because dogs are obedient to the laws of learning. Having used a variable schedule of reinforcement (ie sometimes given in and produced the goods) will have made your dog very hopeful and resistant to the new regime (shows what a good trainer you are) but resist the temptation to cave.

I find by the 4th day they sort of shrug their shoulders and admit defeat.

As long as you have chosen a good diet which is complete and you believe is the best, then hold out.

THink of it this way, you created the current outlook, thus you can create a different one!

Good luck

Got to echo what SB has said!
Have tried it with success on 3 dogs!

Thankyou everyone for your replies. You are right, I would never let the children get away with being so picky (not quite sure why I have allowed the dog!).

I think one of the reasons is he is sick if his tummy is empty, eats grass instead. But I want him to live a long healthy life, so will cut down the quantities and try again.

Will also try cooking the value chicken/veg and mixing that with kibble.

Couple more questions about raw, I wouldnt want to switch completely to raw but I assume you can offer it alongside dog kibble.

Where do I buy chicken wings, are they just in the fridge with the chicken?
Should I wait until I've got him eating kibble/chicken mix and then offer raw chicken?
Am I going to make matters worse, will he only want raw chicken once he has tried it?

I do echo what others have said about letting a dog be fussy.. dogs do what works, and if holding out for chicken gets it, then they continue to do it

However, dogs should also enjoy their food. I have found that Fish 4 Dogs, raw and wet go down better than foods like JWB (dry) which tend do be a little drier with a lower meat content.

What do you feed at the moment?

You can feed raw and kibble together or at separate meals. However if you have a picky eater I would seriously consider conditioning the dog to eat a particular food regularly first eg whatever commercial brand wet or dry you have chosen.

Get him into the habit of eating what is there or going without.

Once you have conditioned this for a few months then consider experimentation otherwise, IMHO, you could be back at square one.

Just a thought.

ETA my dogs normally eat raw but are just as happy to scarf down dry kibble, although I do use Orijen.

If you want to try on complete raw without the bone/offal/meat ratio to start you can try the complete nuggets such as those by naturemenu.

I buy chicken wings from tesco. pop them in bags in the freezer and feed as and when

I have a fussy one too, not through being allowed but just her natural stubborness I think. She will often miss a day's meals through turning her nose up at what's offered, she will ALWAYS scoff the next days serving though. Everyone is always mistified how I don't offer her anything else when she's being stuffy, but she's eight in january and not starved to death just yet..infact she is erring on the stout side, so go figure!
tough love needs to be exercised often in cases like this.

I have Acana kibble, made by the same company as Orijen but less protein so slightly cheaper. I assume this is a decent food to stick with?

Incidentally he will eat this on its own if I hand feed it or pop in a kong with some of the Arden grange liver pâté.

Does anyone feed out of a kong? I could try getting a slightly bigger one and putting his breakfast in that. Any suggestions what to mix with the kibble to make it stick? It's going work out very expensive to use the Arden grange pate and probably too rich.

Thanks again for your replies, I am determined to stick this out and get him eating a balanced diet.