dog not very interested in food.

creme egg

Hi all, first time poster here. Just wanted to see if anyone has experience of this. We got a puppy just before Christmas, and the food the breeder gave him was pedigree chum (dry food) we wanted to change this (our vet advised we do so too) so we changed to Eukanuba, and introduced this slowly (mixed in with the pedigree chum) Now the pedigree chum is all gone, and he does not have much interest in his food. He used to wolf down the chum.
Should we just stick to our guns and take the attitude if he is hungry he will eat it. I don't really want to change his food again, as we (stupidly) bought a 15K bag of Eukanuba!!!

Also, if I feed him the food from my hand he will wolf it down, but just does not show much interest in it when it's in his bowl.
Tks creme egg

Arcadian

If your vet has ruled out health issues for his non appetite then I'd just stop pandering to him and put his food in a bowl, if he doesn't eat it take it away until his next scheduled meal time. No treats in between mealtimes in the meantime:p

On the other hand i've never used eukanuba so perhaps it's just not appetising?

peasant

Pedigree is stuffed with flavour enhancers, aromas and colourants ...which makes it interesting to eat but also quite bad as a food.

Just stick to your guns and stop feeding by hand ...the dog will get over it.

As a little trick to get the dog to eat out of the bowl, you could take the food into your hand, but not feed it to him but put it into the bowl instead ...right in front of his nose.

creme egg

Hi Arcadian & Peasant.
Thanks for your replies.

We don't give the dog any treats at all. (want to start off on the right foot)
I weigh out his food every day, and do training with him from this amount too, this is how I found out he would wolf down the food from my hand. He is probably eating about half his RDA of food (maybe a little more) he is also not out of sorts at all. It's been a week now, so maybe we will just stick it out a bit longer.

I guess its just not as tasty as the chum, he better get used to it

creme egg

oh Peasant, thanks for the tip of pretending to eat his food before he does, we already do that. Also saw that tip on the programme "the dog whisperer" we make sure to (mostly) go into rooms before he does, so he knows who's boss:D

peasant

eeehhh ...no ....

I didn't mean it that way at all. Just act as if you were giving it to him and then bypass his hungry mouth and drop it into the bowl.

The "dog whisperer" is an idiot, don't listen to what he says ...and forget about who goes through doors first as well, that's not important.

creme egg

Peasant :eek: shock horror!!! I think we'll agree to disagree on the dog whisperer! (I like him)

The door thing I find is handy, as the puppy now waits for us to go in first, rather than bursting into the room.

Will try the trick of "bypassing" his mouth, hopefully that will pique his interest again. Will let you know how I get on tonight!

Thanks

Arcadian

The dog whisperer *is* an idiot!

Teaching the dog to wait at doors, stairs etc is a great idea in terms of safety but not for showing who's boss:D My dogs aren't allowed on the stairs at the same time as me because they have a habit of stopping half way up/down, usually when I'm carrying something and can't see them!

peasant

creme egg wrote: »

Peasant :eek: shock horror!!! I think we'll agree to disagree on the dog whisperer! (I like him)

Just do a search for "Cesar Millan" on this forum and read the threads ...you might learn something new.

creme egg

Arcadian, I have yet to wait for the joys of going head first down the stairs cause of the dog. He is too afraid to go down the stair at the moment. He will fly up them no bother, and whine until someone goes to get him, either whine or eat socks / shoes from the bedroom floor.:rolleyes:

I'll ignore the comments about the dog whisperer, I still like him!!

creme egg

SIGH..... OK OK, I will come out of my Cesar is good bubble and do a search. I have a feeling I won't like what I find.

glineli

try some pineapple juice on their food, it will sweeten it up and they wont eat their own waste!!!

My guy is left his food all day so he can eat it when he wants. he wont tear into it once i leave it down for him, he eats it in his own good time.:D

Whispered

I don't think he's a bad person, I think people can sometimes see what ceaser does to dogs and get annoyed - but he does not dominate all dogs at all. I think he is right in some things - like dicipline (as in obedience training) being important as a form of affection, exercise being very important and teaching the dog respect. He also puts an emphasis on being a strong leader which I would equate with having a dependable mother or father and is again very important. What I'm trying to say is don't discount everything he does - just steer clear of things which can seem like bullying.

peasant

helena.ryan wrote: »

I don't think he's a bad person, I think people can sometimes see what ceaser does to dogs and get annoyed - but he does not dominate all dogs at all. I think he is right in some things - like dicipline (as in obedience training) being important as a form of affection, exercise being very important and teaching the dog respect. He also puts an emphasis on being a strong leader which I would equate with having a dependable mother or father and is again very important. What I'm trying to say is don't discount everything he does - just steer clear of things which can seem like bullying.

Of course he does do some things right ...otherwise he wouldn't get away with it. Going by the stuff that he publishes on his website he seems to be giving sound advice.

My problem is that he doesn't practice what he preaches on his television shows. For the sake of a quick, televisable result, more often than not he resorts to physical dominance of the dog ...exactly what he SAYS you shouldn't do.

Transforming yourself into a credible leader and your dog into a happy "follower" is a long drawn out process, plagued by slow progress and the odd setback ...not fit for television.

So he rushes in to see a "problem dog", pushes it around a bit, asserts his dominance (often unseen by the uninitiated viewer/ dog owner), makes the dog "perform" for the camera, spouts a few of his mantras and then disappears.

Neither dog nor owner are helped by this.

The man's a fake. But he does rather well out of it.

andrawolf

Editing is every thing but what comes across can be helpful. I have huskies and they are hard to train but with using some of the things that ceser says it has help train my new pup and he is not as loopy as an normal husky as he gets what I am tryin to do and he knows the boss. As for the thread I think James wellbeloved is a good food as it give you different flavours if they are fussy. My girl was a fussy one but after changing her on to this and weighting out her food she isn't any more. plus how many times a day are you feeding your pup?????????