# So your dog won't eat dry food?



## classixuk (Jun 6, 2009)

Paddy is getting a bit older now, and in 2 days time he will be 5 months old!

I keep meeting people in the park who tell me that their dog or puppy won't eat dry food. They have their dogs eating roast chicken, poached fish, cooked mince and lots of other tasty stuff, but wonder why the dog is refusing his dry food?

Well apart from the obvious fact that I would personally turn down a bag of crisps if it meant I was offered roast chicken 30 minutes later, I just wanted to share what has worked for me with Paddy so far.

1. Stop worrying about how much (or little) your dog/puppy is eating. He won't intentionally starve himself to death! That's the first bit of advice.

2. Next...treat your dog as you would a small child i.e. No vegetables eaten = No dessert, and stick by the rule.

3. Feed your dog after every meal or snack you have. Let him see you eating your food and make him lie down or sit while you eat. Make sure he sees you tear a SMALL piece of part of your meal (a tiny strip of chicken, or a tiny bit of crust from your bread) and place it onto the side of your plate. Discourage him jumping up or smelling your food, and absolutely forbid anyone from feeding him bits of their food until you are all finished eating.

4. When you are done eating, tell the dog "good boy/girl". Go to his bowl and put some kibble in there. Next, let him see you drop the titbit into his bowl, and tell him "good boy, go get it" so that he knows he can get the tit bit.

5. After 15 minutes, take away the bowl (even if he didn't touch the dry food and only ate the titbit).

6. Repeat at the next meal time.

Before long (either that day or the next), your dog will get hungry. That titbit you leave him will act as an appetizer - it will get his brain going and thinking about food. You will see him go back to the bowl after a few minutes and begin nibbling at the kibble - it's instictive.

Over the next few days, he will eat more and more of the kibble after each titbit.

Now the next step should be that you leave smaller and smaller pieces of titbit each time, but personally I won't be doing that as I share a piece of every meal/snack I have with my dog (by this, I mean mostly a tiny titbit at the end rather than share) as I want my dog to know that he will never be without food as long as I am his pack leader.
The only time he gets something more substantial than a titbit is if we are out travelling together and I get hungry. 
I won't pop into a Subway, McDonalds, KFC or fastfood restaurant and order only for me if I have the dog in the car. They all have 99p menus and Paddy gets something from those (tips from me are Subway - Bowl of meatballs 99p, McDonalds - Double Cheeseburger £1.19, KFC - Mini Popcorn chicken 99p, Other takeaways - a sausage 70p).
I figure that if I am starving hungry but that we are not due home for another 2 hours, that my dog will be too.

When we get home, I carry out the original instructions.

So far, no problems!

Hope this helps.


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## ninja (Jan 4, 2009)

sorry but if i was being offered the same food DRY day in day out i would be bored with it and turn my nose up at it, x


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## classixuk (Jun 6, 2009)

ninja said:


> sorry but if i was being offered the same food DRY day in day out i would be bored with it and turn my nose up at it, x


LOL Ninja. Just as well my Paddy gets to eat Subway. McDonalds, KFC and other stuff too when we're not at home 

I wasn't trying to correct anyone or suggest that either dry diet is the way, or the only food to feed, but simply offer hints to people who are finding it difficult to get their dogs eating dry food at ANY time (like the people in the park who I meet).

Like I said, hope it helps some people who might have a 15kg sack of perfectly good dry food yet are forking out on roast chickens and hand feeding their dogs.


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## ninja (Jan 4, 2009)

classixuk said:


> LOL Ninja. Just as well my Paddy gets to eat Subway. McDonalds, KFC and other stuff too when we're not at home
> 
> I wasn't trying to correct anyone or suggest that either dry diet is the way, or the only food to feed, but simply offer hints to people who are finding it difficult to get their dogs eating dry food at ANY time (like the people in the park who I meet).
> 
> Like I said, hope it helps some people who might have a 15kg sack of perfectly good dry food yet are forking out on roast chickens and hand feeding their dogs.


hmmmm healthy food then!! 
the easiest way to get a dog to eat dry food is to add a bit of hot water it makes it smell loads nicer 
as for those who hand feed they are making a rod for there own back


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## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

I don't have a problem atall getting Dave to eat his dry. Even when occasionaly he has chicken or leftovers or meat in it. It's Wainwrights so smells quite strongly anyway.

I once had a dog who would decide after a few days that he did not like that flavour of meat anymore. He was my 2nd dog. My first dog she would eat anything, and his if he didn't get to it. I stupidly would go out and buy him a different flavour if I put the dish down for him to refuse it! Lol!
After a few months I realsied it was getting quite expensive, so didn't feed him all day (on advice of my vet) then just fed him dry and it worked. I have never let my pets be fussy since- its either eat it or go hungry til next meal! 


I just wish everyone would listen to your advice, I have a friend who's dog wont eat his dinner so she keeps giving him chicken, mince etc an complains its expensive but she just ''can't not feed him if he doesn't eat his dinner!''

x


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## wooliewoo (May 27, 2008)

I cant get Lucy to eat dried puppy food at mo so i have been adding it to cooked chicken and mince she's not silly!!!!
Once pups go im sure i will have a battle to get her back onto her food,


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## Spaniel mad (Jul 17, 2009)

I dont have a problem getting mine to eat dry food. They do have our leftovers aswell. But they have dry in the morning and 99% of the time they eat it all


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## Ducky (Nov 23, 2008)

i agree with most of the OPs advice. though i have never had a problem with any of my dogs eating. they have only ever been offered dry food and have never refused it, its gone out of the bowl in seconds and they dont look for anything else. 

i dont think i would ever give my dog a mcdonalds though, i cant even bring myself to eat one of those! so disgusting. not exactly the healthiest thing is it.


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## Mese (Jun 5, 2008)

Of course a dog wont starve themself , no intelligent creature would 

For arguments sake lets say you hated toast with a passion , the taste , the look , everything about it
now lets say thats all you were given to eat day in day out ... would you eat it eventually or starve yourself to death ... of course its a no brainer , you'd eat ... but eating the toast doesnt mean you suddenly decided you liked it , merely that you are hungry enough to eat it

My dogs get what they enjoy 
how do I know what they like ... by trial and error ... they hate dried/complete , arent too keen on tinned and biscuits but adore raw , thats why they are fed a BARF diet

as for feeding my dogs subways or McDonalds  ut:


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

When my dog wouldn't eat the dog food we didn't feed him anything else just put the food down, put some gravy on it so it tasted better and he finally got hungry enough to eat it. Once he'd been doing it for a while we started introducing small amounts of treats only as long as he eat all his dog food. Maybe a harsh way to do it but he didn't hate it just prefered human food


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## classixuk (Jun 6, 2009)

I am having a bit of a giggle at some of the replies that picked up on the fact I feed my dog with fast food stuff when we are out!

I am glad it got picked up on...I purposefully put it into my post to demonstrate that I wasn't preaching or being 'holier than thou'...that I didn't have all the answers and that I'm not perfect in how I treat my dog...just human. 

BUT...I think that I do have to challenge some of the pre-conceptions that all food from a fast food joint must be rubbish or unhealthy.

As someone who cooks the main meals in our house from fresh at least 4 or 5 times a week (I even bake my own bread each morning...none of that shop bought stuff gets past our front door), I reckon that the snacks I mentioned above aren't too bad.

My dog doesn't get a Big Mac meal with a go large option and chocolate shake every day LOL.

If you buy their double cheeseburger, it has 2 100% beef patties with cheese, relish and bread. I simply remove the top piece of bread as well as the gherkins and give the meat, cheese and bottom of the bun to Paddy. It's a great snack to keep him (and me) going until we get home.

Subway is my favourite though. Not only can I get a fresh sandwich made exactly how I like it with all the salad, but Paddy gets a portion of 5 meatballs in tomato sauce with a sprinkling of cheese on top too. That's pretty comparable to what he might get as a special reward at home if he had been especially good.

I'd say this happens about twice a week, or any other time that he has been out with me much longer than I expected to be out. I figure that if I am getting hungry, then my dog must be too. 

Surely I cannot be the only one on this forum who admits to ordering for their dog if he's in the backseat of the car at McDonalds drive-thru? hmy:


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## Jazzy (Apr 15, 2009)

I used to feed my older Bichon on Wafcol which is a dried dog food but since the pup has been on Naturediet then I've put him on it too and it seems to be suiting him so I'm keeping him on it.  I've had him on Naturediet in the past but he used to eat it that fast that he would bring it back up again but now he is on two smaller meals a day with the puppy and he seems to eat slower now since we've had the puppy (think he likes the puppy to think that he's had more than her.)


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## kendal (Mar 24, 2009)

Gypsy was a nightmare, she would pick at her food, we tried different brands and then the beef flavored stuff in the pet shop that meant to make it taste better but it didn't work so after that i just didn't bother faffing about with roast chicken or anything like that, i just lifted her food and left her till the next meal, the poor girl would go for two or three days without eating and making me feel so guilty. its not that she had no apatite as she would take treats if offered. 

eventually we gave her raw and she was picky for the first couple of days till i forgot to defrost it and i had to give them it frozen. i have never seen her leave a morsel since.


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