Ok!!! Lets talk dogs!

[bersaguy]

Most of ya'll here Know I lost Kasey last October after 18 years. Well I have had dogs since I was 6 years old so I went and got another one from a dog Rescue center and her name is Darby She is about 6 years old according to papers I got from Rescue and smart and a whip. Sometimes I think she is smarter than I am. Maybe more times than less. I have an issue with her and I am seeking advice from dog owners. She is a very very picky eater. The food she ate yesterday she will not touch today. Then there will be days she will eat the same food 3 or 4 days in a row and never touch it again.

When I got her from Rescue I ask them what food they were feeding her and they said  Pedigree Adult nuggets so I bought a 25 lb bag of it on the way home. I still have about 23 lbs left and I have had her since January. She won't eat it but will pick out one piece at a time once in a while and snack on it. I moved her over to the packs of Pedigree wet foods in assorted flavors. For the first couple weeks she was fine with that and all at once she decided she didn't want it any more. I tried Purina Pro wet at 2.00+ a container and for two days she licked the bowl clear and then next night turned her nose up at it. Called the vet and they sent me 4 cans of food in Fedex at 3.59 per can and said it had appetite enhancers in it. She took on bite of it and spit it back in the bowl and would not eat it. I have began cooking for her like I did Kasey. I have a place I can buy chicken breasts really cheap so I have cooked her chicken and rice. One day she will eat it and one day she will eat just plain chicken or maybe not eat it and want dog food.

What I am looking for is this. I would like to know what everyone that wants to share feeds their dogs? I'm looking to be able to find the most popular dry foods people have found their dogs like and the most popular wet foods their dogs like. Then I agoing to begin narrowing each field and brand of wet and dry foods and try them out. I do realize I have spoiled her some and it may take a little tough love to get her eating one of two foods regularly but it will be fore her own good. Thanks for ya'lls input into this endeavor.

[quedz]

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/

We use Sportmix Wholesomes Chicken Meal and Rice. 4 of 5 Star rating and reasonably priced. 

Edited June 2, 2018 by hughd

[volshayes]

I don't know how big your pooch is, but here's what we use.

"Nature's Recipe Small Breed Grain-Free Chicken, Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Recipe Dry Dog Food"

We get it at https://www.chewy.com

 

[Ugly]

Congrats on giving her a home!

my little guy is a bit picky but not that much. I have found that he gets an upset stomach from time to time and that causes him to be picky. He has never been a chow hound like my beagle was. 

One thing I have done is to get him toys that releases snacks when he plays with them. I out food in there instead and he tends to eat his dry food that way. 

If if she is healthy and doesn't get upset stomach from her food choices, she will eventually eat. Unless here is an underlying issue such as being spoiled or psychological problems. 

Good luck brother, I know you will worry about her until she eats as expected. 

He usually gets chicken with his wet food and usually eats that no matter what. The wet food types have been a crapshoot. 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Ugly

[xsubsailor]

 How do you feed her? The quickest way to turn a dog into a picky eater is to fill the bowl and leave it so they can eat when they want.

I would suggest finding a good nutritious food and determine how much she should get per day according to her weight.  I give mine about a third of the daily amount during the day and the rest later on at night. She never has more in her bowl than she will eat before walking away. BTW, I use IAMS.

 I don't know about the rice thing. We used to have a big Irish Setter that would get bad cases of diarrhea and we would give him rice to firm things up.

It's going to take tough love (she's just got your trained to her liking )

 

[bersaguy]

18 minutes ago, xsubsailor said:

 How do you feed her? The quickest way to turn a dog into a picky eater is to fill the bowl and leave it so they can eat when they want.

I would suggest finding a good nutritious food and determine how much she should get per day according to her weight.  I give mine about a third of the daily amount during the day and the rest later on at night. She never has more in her bowl than she will eat before walking away. BTW, I use IAMS.

 I don't know about the rice thing. We used to have a big Irish Setter that would get bad cases of diarrhea and we would give him rice to firm things up.

It's going to take tough love (she's just got your trained to her liking )

 

The diarrhea is an issue I dea with off and on and it was on more than off when I first got her so we made an early vet trip 5 days after I got here. Vet recomended Fortiflora added to her evening meal. She ate it the frst two nights and the third night she walked up and smelled the food and walked away. I have tried a couple times to sneak it into her food but she smells it and walks away. I do have a great vet and we email back and forth often about Darby and she offers a lot of things to try wthout me having to do an office visit. They tested her stool for parasites on our first visit and it came negative. Vet is butting her head against the wall also on her food situation. She gets Home meade Chicken and rice about every morning for breakfast and sometimes she will eat all of it, sometimes part of it and like this morning none of it. The diarrhea is seldom as long as she eats the rice & chicken. The Fortiflora was to treat it but she won't eat it so that was 29 bucks wasted. I will post a few pitures of Darby so folks know what I am talking about.

[QuackerSmacker]

Maybe this is some kind of dog-blasphemy or something, but I just don't understand why this is even an issue.

A hungry dog will eat.   I wouldn't (and didn't) even raise a child this spoiled.

[bersaguy]

Here is the spoiled brat I'm talking about. In the 3rd picture she is sleeping on her 2nd  most favorite toy. He first favorite is just a plain old stick about a foot long an big around as a quarter. She will place fetch with a stick as long as you will throw one.

[bersaguy]

4 minutes ago, QuackerSmacker said:

Maybe this is some kind of dog-blasphemy or something, but I just don't understand why this is even an issue.

A hungry dog will eat.   I wouldn't (and didn't) even raise a child this spoiled.

My last two dogs were and are much more spoiled than any of my children ever were but my kids all were bottomless pits when it came to food so getting them to eat was never an issue........LOL

[DaveTN]

We (Dogs owners) worry too much. Your dog will eat if she is hungry. If she won’t there is a medical issue and it won’t matter what you are trying to feed her; she will need medical attention.

My last Doberman ate well and was also fed scraps. My new puppy will be fed nothing but dry dog food and no people food.

I’m using 4Health grain free dry puppy food right now because that is what the breeder was feeding him. When we go to adult food I will reevaluate.

But again…barring a medical problem your dog will eat.

[Murgatroy]

I buy Taste of the Wild. I read several studies about premium dog food, and at the $2 a pound mark for dry food they are all pretty much the same. TotW got great reviews, made several top ten lists and was less expensive than the other premium brands such as Blue Buffalo, Hills and similar. Rural King carries it in 30lb sacks for $47. My girls eat the High Prairie. They go through a bag every three weeks or so.

Since switching both dogs keep a healthier weight, eat much less and have healthier coats. Because the food has more nutritional value and less fillers they are less hungry and don't eat as much. 

While I do feed my girls scraps here and there, it is rare and I am not a huge proponent of feeding a dog human food. I causes them to expect your food and makes it difficult to eat in peace, in addition to any health issues.

 

We liked TotW so much we also switched the cat over to it. He didn't care for it at first. But he got hungry, he ate it. It is all he eats now.

 

 

Take my $.02, but stop spoiling her. Put her food out, when she gets hungry, she will eat it. You are on a fixed income, if you are spending $200 a month on dog food when you could be spending $50, imagine what you could do with the savings.

[bersaguy]

7 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

We (Dogs owners) worry too much. Your dog will eat if she is hungry. If she won’t there is a medical issue and it won’t matter what you are trying to feed her; she will need medical attention.

My last Doberman ate well and was also fed scraps. My new puppy will be fed nothing but dry dog food and no people food.

I’m using 4Health grain free dry puppy food right now because that is what the breeder was feeding him. When we go to adult food I will reevaluate.

But again…barring a medical problem your dog will eat.

Well she has been to the vet twice and when I got her she weighed 26 lbs on first visit and on second visit she weighed 32 lbs so she is eating enough to gain weight and the vet keeps giving her a clean bill of health. I am thinking now it is more of adjusting for her. I was able to learn a lot about her back ground from her original owner that raised her from a puppy till she was 5.5 years old and she was their baby and they spent a lot of time with her. That is where the stick fetching was taught along with other things. Then they had a baby girl and Darby was no longer the center of their attention and Darby became jealous. They had her about another year and when the baby began crawling everytime it got near Darby she would growl at the baby so they put Darby in the garage till they could fgure out what to do with he and finally put her up for adoption at a dog rescue where she went on a hunger strike and would not eat anything. She went from 38 lbs down to the 26 pounds she weighed when I got her. The Vet at the Dog rescue center had discussed puuting her down if she did not get adopted and gave her 1 week. She was scheduled to be put down on Friday and I adopted her on Wednesday. I do spend a lot of time with her and she loves to ride in back seat of Jeep.

  Of course right after I got her I had my heart attack so friends were coming to the house taking care of her for me. I do spend a lot of time with her and give her a lot of attention.

Tonight will be a real test for her since I have not left her alone for more than 30 minutes or so at a time but she is going to be on her own in the house for about 5 hours. The Vet told me that dogs have no perception of time and  I think she is correct since every dog I have eveh had seems as happy to see me when I am gone 30 minutes as I am for 4 hours and I will see tonight I guess. I'm going fishing.

[gregintenn]

No help here. Any dog I ever had would eat anything that fit down their throat. My current Lab is no exception.

[bersaguy]

46 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

No help here. Any dog I ever had would eat anything that fit down their throat. My current Lab is no exception.

I have had dogs since I was about 6 years old and like your mine ate anything you put down for them. Kasey was spoiled but that was my fault. This one was spoiled and then put in a dog rescue and almost died so yea I guess I have been spoiling her but if I can just find a food that she will eat everytime I put some down for her I would be totally happy.

[QuackerSmacker]

2 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Well she has been to the vet twice and when I got her she weighed 26 lbs on first visit and on second visit she weighed 32 lbs so she is eating enough to gain weight and the vet keeps giving her a clean bill of health. I am thinking now it is more of adjusting for her. I was able to learn a lot about her back ground from her original owner that raised her from a puppy till she was 5.5 years old and she was their baby and they spent a lot of time with her. That is where the stick fetching was taught along with other things. Then they had a baby girl and Darby was no longer the center of their attention and Darby became jealous. They had her about another year and when the baby began crawling everytime it got near Darby she would growl at the baby so they put Darby in the garage till they could fgure out what to do with he and finally put her up for adoption at a dog rescue where she went on a hunger strike and would not eat anything. She went from 38 lbs down to the 26 pounds she weighed when I got her. The Vet at the Dog rescue center had discussed puuting her down if she did not get adopted and gave her 1 week. She was scheduled to be put down on Friday and I adopted her on Wednesday. I do spend a lot of time with her and she loves to ride in back seat of Jeep.

  Of course right after I got her I had my heart attack so friends were coming to the house taking care of her for me. I do spend a lot of time with her and give her a lot of attention.

Tonight will be a real test for her since I have not left her alone for more than 30 minutes or so at a time but she is going to be on her own in the house for about 5 hours. The Vet told me that dogs have no perception of time and  I think she is correct since every dog I have eveh had seems as happy to see me when I am gone 30 minutes as I am for 4 hours and I will see tonight I guess. I'm going fishing.

Geeeeeeeeez, please just go fishing, and be as relaxed as your dog wants you to be.   You will find that's a 2-way street.  Just let it happen. Stop thinking.

[Hozzie]

Try some hot water with the hard food.  I buy Acana which is high end food, but my dog likes some flavors and not others.  I get a different flavor each time I need it to change things up but I keep track of the ones she doesn't like.  Mine isn't so much a picky eater, but not just a big eater.  I leave food out and she will only eat right before bed or maybe take a bit here and there.  If I put hot water in it, a lot of time she will drink the hot flavored water and wait until later to eat.  Dog food is much better overall than it used to be.  I don't think you need the best, just find what she likes.  To be honest, every dog I have had likes Beniful even though it isn't the greatest food.

In general, I agree that when she is hungry enough she will eat.  The only thing I would watch for is if she doesn't want to eat at all which could mean a bad tooth or something.

[QuackerSmacker]

My life with dogs was and is   NEVER SO COMPLICATED

[res308]

Bersa, I know I'm not any help, but I can't get the old joke about the two old farmers off my mind. 

Two old farmers were talking about their dogs and what they feed them.

One farmer told the other that he feeds his dog turnip greens.

The second farmer said that his dog would NEVER eat turnip greens!

 The first farmer said "Well, mine wouldn't either for the first month."

I know there's a lot of good veterinarians out there, and it's a good thing to have access to a dog doctor. But you may wind up just bleeding yourself dry trying to figure out this problem. If it was me (and I know it's not), I would probably pick out a food that's going to give all the nutrition your buddy needs, then pick out a certain time of day to serve it. I might give it about 10 minutes or something like that, and if she won't touch it, put it away. Do it again the next day, and the next. Eventually she'll realize that it she doesn't eat what you give her, she's not going to eat. 

Now I gave all that advice knowing full well that I'm guilty of spoiling every dog I've had and also sharing my human food with them. 

So my words of "wisdom" are worth exactly what you paid for them. 

[gregintenn]

I thought about stopping by there and checked my out your new pooch earlier, as me & the missus went to eat at AweDaddy's. I thought better of it, however, as she would have talked your head off.

You haven't moved yet have you?

Edited June 3, 2018 by gregintenn

[peejman]

What several have said....  you're being far too nice. Quality dog food, and only dog food. When she gets hungry, she'll eat. Adult dogs eat a lot less than you think.   They're supposed to look lean. 

Edited June 3, 2018 by peejman

[chances R]

Another vote for TASTE OF THE WILD dog food.  Let is sit out and eat ad lib.  If dog starts getting fat cut back.  Some dogs just eat when they are hungry....not on a routine basis.  Your dog is gaining weight, so wouldn't worry.

 

[Ray Z]

BOY!! I agree with everything that was said so far. I've got 4 dogs. Each with their own personality and I love every one. All were rescued. Don't worry, they will eat when they get hungry enough.

May I suggest that you read the books by Cesar Millan? He has helped me to understand, and communicate with my pack. 

[peejman]

2 hours ago, Ray Z said:

May I suggest that you read the books by Cesar Millan? He has helped me to understand, and communicate with my pack. 

Yes. 

Cesar is kind of a nut, but his techniques work on stubborn dogs.  It helped us a lot with our dog. 

[bersaguy]

Well can't thank for enough for all the insight into this issue I have with my  dog delima that probably is not as much as I think it might be. I live kind of a routine life syle these days and Darby is learning it pretty well. I eat supper pretty close to 5PM and that is when I feed her and she knows when it is close to 5 oclock cause where ever she is at about 15 minute before 5 she will be following me around every move I make. I can look at my watch and it will be close to 5PM about every day. Quackersmacker may be right and I may very well be over thinking and over complicating this whole issue about her food. I want her on a dry food if possible because it is just a lot less religious timing thing. Put food down and when the bowl is empty or close fill it again. Can't do that with wet food. today I will try one of the recomended foods I will pick up at the store and give it a dedicated effort to find the one she likes and my life will be less stressful.

Oh Quacker, I went fishing last night on Percy Priest Lake fished 5 hours and caught 31 bass both Largemouth and Smallmouths and had a great evenng. Not bad for first time back on the water in about 2 years.

[Murgatroy]

4 hours ago, Ray Z said:

BOY!! I agree with everything that was said so far. I've got 4 dogs. Each with their own personality and I love every one. All were rescued. Don't worry, they will eat when they get hungry enough.

May I suggest that you read the books by Cesar Millan? He has helped me to understand, and communicate with my pack. 

My wife is a fan of Cesar Milan. It is funny because I will tell her to do something with the dogs and she will say 'That is what Cesar says to do!' I haven't watched more than ten minutes in passing of his show. She has stated that using some of his techniques have helped her with out girls. Bandit is very much an alpha dog, with Brigand being a very beta dog. It works well in their dynamic. Bandit recognizes me as the alpha of the pack and she will never disobey me. The wife on the other hand... Brigand listens to her... The wife has learned that squaring her shoulders, hulking over and speaking firmly has really helped with Bandit obeying her. Me, I just point to what I want her to do and she does it