# Back to snubbing the food...



## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

He has been eating the Innova for days now and then yesterday morning he snubbed it completely. Then again last night...so I looked to add something and settled with a handful of shredded cheese. He ate all of his food then. Then he snubbed it again this morning!!!! I added the cheese again and then he still took all day to eat one bowlful! 

What should I add? I gave him a LOT of yummy meat bones last week but havent been to the good store that carries them yet this week so he is without so far...could he be craving them? I gave him some EVO earlier as snacks for training and he WOLFED them down out of my hands and was very excited sniffing and snuffing around for more...even licking the carpet for more tasties.

What should I do??? :help:


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

I would be cautious about switching again. Sounds like he is just being picky now, and if you give in to him now then he will be constantly trying to push your buttons and demand something new. 

how much is he eating now?
You feed 2, or 3 times a day?

If he is not sick and is just being picky, then just put down his food for breakfast, keep it down for 20 minutes. If he doesn't eat it, oh well. It goes up and you can try again at dinner time. He goes on your schedule, not his. For training I would try and use his kibble too if you can for now. That way he isn't holding out for his training goodies.


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

i feed him 2x a day usually. once in the morning around 7am and once in the evening around 6pm.

I dont plan on switching his food...but maybe adding more to his bowl to make him eat better? I dont like the idea of him not eating so much. He isnt sick, just being a brat!


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

georgiapeach717 said:


> i feed him 2x a day usually. once in the morning around 7am and once in the evening around 6pm.
> 
> I dont plan on switching his food...but maybe adding more to his bowl to make him eat better? I dont like the idea of him not eating so much. He isnt sick, just being a brat!


don't add things just to get him to eat! He is training you well. Think of it like a child. Would you give them ice cream to get them to eat their balanced meal? He's training you well, turning you into a short order cook! 

believe me, he won't starve himself. But, right now, he knows that if he holds out you'll give him something yummy! So, I agree; just put down his food, leave it for 20 mins then pick it back up. If you are worried about him going without food, offer it again in the middle of the day. If he is hungry, he'll eat. It will take a few days before he realizes that you are NEVER going to add anything. 
I'd also cut out on the snacks until he is eating good. Then, once he is back on his regular schedule for a while, then you can give him a little something extra mixed in. But do it very rarely, otherwise you will be right back where you started... 

If I give Rayden and Freya something extra 2 days in a row, they will try to hold out on me as well.


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

well i feel like a moron. *sigh* he ate this morning...but there was cheese...bc I was worried about him. I will offer no more cheese until he eats it plain again. Thanks guys.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

How is it going? Did he eat?


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

he ate this morning just fine...but it was before I got on here, and out of mommy panic I fed him with the cheese again and he snarfed it down. I hate the idea of taking away all his treats. I had already planned on picking up more ribs today for him at Publix, and use the EVO kibble as training treats.  I hope he gets back on the eating ball soon!!


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Don't think of it as taking away his treats, think of it as adding unnecessary ingredients. He WILL eventually eat it, but if you keep giving him the cheese you can forget about him ever eating it without it. Minnie was a VERY picky eater, and she held out on us for two days once. I felt awful, but I had to remind myself that SHE was the one not eating. Now she eats like a good girl. I know it's hard, but don't give in!


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

he is just so young... 
So no meaty chewies? He is teething so bad...he destroyed a wicker basket yesterday!!! LOL!


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

For training reason I still handfeed Ike all his meals. A bit obedience, food, a little obedience, food. When we are about 70% done with the meal, I put the bowl down and he finishes the rest. So if Clover will eat from your hand, I would use that time to do some training games with him. Simple fun stuff. Come to me, look at me, simple fun things like that.


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## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

I am having the same problem right now; and also feeding Otto Innova :]

It all started with him flipping the food bowl over, dumping the food all over the floor and just leaving it there. Then he started not even touching his food. I usually give him a Kong sometime after his meal, but I feel like he is just holding out for treats and other snacks. I'm starting to take away his food after 20min or so. For the past 2 days, he has only been eating 2cups of food maximum compared to the 4cups he usually eats. Oh, and until he learns to finish his food.. no Kongs OR treats.

Not sure why, but my dog will eat the food out of my hand. If i grab a handful and bring it to his face, he just gobbles it all up. I dont understand why hes doing this


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## DianaB (Jan 3, 2007)

These dogs sure know how to 'work us'. Siena did the same thing forever and ever. Even refused home cooked. The vet recommended feeding 2 times a day (was 3) and that kind of worked, but not really. She'd walk over, sniff the food, walk away, absolutely no interest. So, we decided to leave it down 30 minutes and if she didn't eat it, too bad. Wait til the next. We learned she really is not an eater in the morning at all (and was losing weight) so we went to once a day late evening and we have no problem now. Of course it is more than I would prefer her to eat at one time, but I no longer have to spruce it up to get her to eat it, she just is hungry enough. She had giardia as a pup and loads of digestive issues, so it could have been a combo of things. Things REALLY improved once we diagnosed her HD and got her on anti-inflammatories for that... now, she eats it all and no hesitation one bit. Toying with trying to do 2x a day, but it's working so don't want to mess with it.

We feed 1/3 Innova Evo (dry kibble) and 2/3 GreatLife Buffalo and add 1/2 can of Evo wet and it works well.

Good luck. Honestly, I'm kind of glad she isn't so 'picky' anywhere. She wouldn't even eat something like yummy liver (fresh, but cooked!)


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

H15 clover will eat ANYTHING from my hands and wolf it down...but in the bowl, not so much! I think we finally got a solution though (see Clover's 12 week check up thread in the puppy development area) and he is doing a LOT better! 

I hope Otto eats more for you again soon! 

Diana, What is HD? (sorry not so great with the abbreviations yet) I will be glad when Picky comes to an end! HA!


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## DianaB (Jan 3, 2007)

georgiapeach717 said:


> Diana, What is HD? (sorry not so great with the abbreviations yet) I will be glad when Picky comes to an end! HA!


Hip displaysia


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

aww I am so sorry  Is is severe? Poor thing.


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## DianaB (Jan 3, 2007)

georgiapeach717 said:


> aww I am so sorry  Is is severe? Poor thing.


Yeah. Unfortunately it is bad. She is actually scheduled on Mar 5 for a full left hip replacement. Thankfully the digestive issues appear to be behind us cuz this is a big surgery.


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## georgiapeach717 (Jan 28, 2010)

oh wow. I will be praying for her that day!!! That does sound like a big surgery!


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Some dogs are just not into food as much as others. I know my Elsa Rose would actually not eat for DAYS (and I'm not kidding) if I only gave her kibble. But this was normal for her. 

Since at the same time, she'd always eat a treat for me, I would know she wasn't ill. And though many members here will say 'when they are hungry they will eat so don't do anything' she actually happily lost weight the few days I tried this. So I needed to do something else for MY peace of mind.

For one thing, she only ate 1 c in the am, 1 c in the pm and I NEVER left the food down for more than a few minutes. If it wasn't yummy enough for her to start eating, she wasn't eating it. So I'd pick up the bowl and at the next feeding time (about twice a day) I'd take the same food and do what you did. Add a small amount of SOMETHING from the fridge. Cheese and almost any leftovers worked well. A VERY small amount of 'other' food mixed with water to make a gravy to mix with the kibble would do the trick.

Other really easy thing was to buy crap canned on sale CAT food! Cats are picky too so they make their formulas extra stinky and delicious! 1/4 of a small can (tuna can sized) mixed with water and her normal kibble always worked. You can purchase the plastic tops to re-cover the cans and keep them in the fridge. Their nutrition is still coming from the kibble, the canned cat is ONLY to entice them and get them eating.

Good luck. BTW, Elsa wouldn't eat until she was about 5 and I added a new chow HOUND puppy called Bretta Lee to my pack. That Bretta would swallow her food in a sec and be right into Elsa's and apparently Elsa got a bit more interested in eating in this situation. But I'm not recommending you get another dog to fix this!


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## DianaB (Jan 3, 2007)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Good luck. BTW, Elsa wouldn't eat until she was about 5 and I added a new chow HOUND puppy called Bretta Lee to my pack. That Bretta would swallow her food in a sec and be right into Elsa's and apparently Elsa got a bit more interested in eating in this situation. But I'm not recommending you get another dog to fix this!


Nothing like a little competition to get the dog to eat. This is very common... invite another dog over and the dog suddenly is hungry


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