Agree with this. It could be that he`s just not hungry. Raz (and sometimes Daisy) occasionally turn their noses up at their food. But at the next meal, they`d wolf it down usually. (Raz sometimes misses two).
If he`s not underweight I wouldn`t worry.
Another thing you could try is a different place to eat. Some of my dogs like to eat on their own, in a quiet place. Daisy likes to eat where she can see me.

i would do what smokeybear suggests. I had to do the 15 minute rule with my dogs when they were being fussy, it works.

you just have to harden up a bit nana hates it when i do it, i still do it now if they dont eat, but to be honest we dont have that problem much now, because they know when the food is down they eat it.

Fred used to be fussy and until just before Christmas he would leave his brekkie (he's 5yrs old), normally only taking a couple of mouthfulls and he would always eat a bigger tea time meal.
To cut a long story short I put Mya on Burns dry food to try and get some weight off her, took her off it as she put more weight on it but didn't want to waste 15kg bag so I tried Fred with it, he hasn't missed a meal since, he loves it, I've never known him eat breakfast and tea, and finally I've got some weight on him (he's usually like a toast rack on whatever he's fed).
Sorry for waffling, just wondered if it might be worth a try. I wished I'd tried it years ago

There's never a happy medium is there! I'll keep in mind what you have said, thanks.

Isla is on such measly portions (she gets 2oz per meal, Oscar gets 14 oz) that it wouldn't really work. I did give her his kong from last night though, so it's certainly something I will do if I can.

This was something that crossed my mind especially considering my negative interaction with the cat near his bowl. The cat has been spayed recently and as such has a cone on preventing her from getting through the stair gate bars, so feeding him in the front room should help if the cat is part of the problem.

This is something that I'm going to try, I was reluctant to make any more changes in an effort to get him to eat, but I think keeping him out of my eye-line will help and also prevent me from getting worked up by not having to watch him look so terrified at the thought of eating!

Yes, I'm a bit too soft with him I have to admit. That said I can and will toughen up, the issue may well be my Mother who will not listen to my advice. Seeing what my dogs got in the form of titbits at Xmas made me shudder!

Well I gave Oscar the turkey again this morning, the same meal he'd refused yesterday teatime. I've decided to feed him in the living room and leave Isla in the kitchen with the stair gate closed. I put it down for 15 minutes and he didn't eat it, so at that point it had been 24 hours since he'd eaten. He went to the food a few times and then lay down and stared at the dish. When I got up to take it away he got up and started licking it, so I think he's cottoning on to the fact that he'll only have access to it for a short amount of time.

I put it back in the freezer and got it out again at teatime (the last time before it got thrown) and set it down in the living room. And I'm well chuffed to say he ate the lot!

I still think it's early days, but at least it's confirmed in my mind that it's not the fact that he doesn't like the food, but more the fact that I've created issues for him around mealtimes.

I'll continue to leave the food down in this way, ignoring him completely during mealtimes and see how we go. Hopefully he'll start to relax and mealtimes will stop being such an issue for him and me.

Thank you all so much for your help, it's certainly helped to solve the puzzle of his refusal to eat!

I'd definitely carry on with the 'mean mummy' approach (picking up the food after 10 minutes or so and giving nothing else).

It worked for my Yorkie, who was previously very fussy. She now eats all her food at both meal times.

My Sisters Bichon is very pick at her ex's (they share custody! ) and yet he eats everything put in front of him when she has him. The reason? She doesn't give any extra treats and his food gets removed after 30 minutes if he doesn't eat it!

It's amazing how clever they can be without us even noticing!

Sika can be a fussy mare too and can go for a day without eating. Usually if she doesn't eat a meal it'll be her breakfast. When she eats, she usually watches Jago eat first (no interest in trying to get his food) and waits until he has been out, then when he's back inside she eats her while he watches! I'm there's something psychological about this structure. If she doesn't eat it gets taken away and she get whatever she left plus her next meal at dinner time. I also have to be careful because I often add oil, sardines etc to their meals BUT if I do that too often she then won't eat her meal without it and we have a day of no eating. Not much help as they are not raw fed but I always think it helps to know you're not alone! xx

ETA Sika has just filled out now after being a skinny minny for 2 years. I think HWV's are very slow developers from what I have heard, physically and psychologically.

Yeah I think HWV are well known for being lean when young, Oscar was also skinny for the first couple of years. I've only just managed to get a decent amount of weight on him lately, which might be part of the reason him not eating has caused me to over worry about it!

Just a little update:

Oscar has continued to do really well on the new "strict" regime. He has only refused to eat once since my last post (turkey again) and when re offered the same meal at the next meal time he ate the lot!

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for his funny eating habits!

this regime really worked for me and my fussy eaters, funny you should mention turkey though, as this is the one meat daphni wouldnt eat straight away.. wonder what it is with turkey?