# Is the Picky Eater Label for Poodles Justified?



## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Before I got my puppy, Buck, I read what PF members were feeding their dogs and why. I've been a bit frantic because I have been throwing away more creatively amended kibble than he's consumed. Moistened with water, sodium-MSG free broth, moistened topped with yogurt, egg, chicken and fish. I've sat by his dish, like Dulcie's Mom and hand fed the kibble to get it in him and soften his bite. Just my luck, he relishes the raw chicken necks! My friend with TPOO's says one of hers will eat anything and the other is very hard to please. I understand Buck is new to solid food and still adjusting, but he's the first dog I've owned that didn't love peanut butter after one taste. Do you think the picky label is valid or an unfair generalization?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Well, of my two it is Sophy, the Papillon, who has decided tastes, and Poppy, Toy Poodle, who eats practically everything and looks around for more!


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

Not picky; my two will eat anything except as it turns out, raw chicken liver. Even the Boston Terrier eats anything. Except raw chicken liver.


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## Manxcat (May 6, 2013)

I've kind of got one of each - but I have to say that Pippin isn't necessarily a picky eater... she is just always hopeful that there might be something more interesting if she doesn't eat what she's given! Pushkin will eat anything, anytime, anywhere.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I would say Lily is a good eater now, but was hard to get food into as a puppy. She definitely has a grazer preference and eats three or four smaller meals each day. Peeves is the same. With Lily I think it is her nature, for Peeves I think he adopted her habit. They free feed dry and I am lucky I can leave the food out (no gluttons). It was my vet (spoo person himself) who suggested free feeding Lily when she was a picky puppy.

PS they both like many different things, yogurt, cheese etc. but don't get a lot of extras other than yogurt and for Peeves fruit (Lily doesn't care much about fruit but he does). Lily hates PB.


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## Bellesdad0417 (May 18, 2014)

My experience has been mixed, of my previous Spoo's Noah was picky to the point we did a mixture of hand feeding and constantly switching up his food. Like you I threw away more then he ate, but the good news was he could eat anything without stomach upset. 

Belle ate anything but if we strayed to much varying the diet she would get sick at the drop of a hat, this made it really hard because Noah pretty much go what ever he wanted and Belle would just look at us like "really he gets that".

I think Finn will be fine he has a healthy appetite and it hasn't seemed to bother his stomach when I introduce new things to his diet and treats. It wasn't always that way because when we got him he had the runs/soft serve for about 2 weeks as we purged the breeders food from his system.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Fjm, I will never forget the rabbit in the bed story! Thank goodness raw liver isn't part of my breeder's feeding program! My husband, who needs three, count 'em, meals is a tad jealous of Buck. "No, these hard boiled eggs are for the dog. I'm saving that for Buck." All we have room for in the freezer is chicken necks and the ice cream camouflaging them.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Catherine, how do you give Lilly pills? In cheese? PB was my "go to" for medicine. Guess I can use raw chicken skin. Brrrrrrrrr...


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I think it really depends on the dog. I have one picky eater and 3 pigs. My picky eater was bred to a piggy poodle has kids that are all pigs!


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

Jazz will eat anything that's put before her. Blue eats about half of his meal and finishes it an hour or so later. For those of you with picky eaters, do you think they'd really starve themselves? Wouldn't they eventually be hungry enough to eat whatever was available? (This isn't a snide question. I'm really curious, never having had a dog that was reluctant to eat.)


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I guess piggy is the dominant gene. Should have asked!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Double post!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

JudyD said:


> Jazz will eat anything that's put before her. Blue eats about half of his meal and finishes it an hour or so later. For those of you with picky eaters, do you think they'd really starve themselves? Wouldn't they eventually be hungry enough to eat whatever was available? (This isn't a snide question. I'm really curious, never having had a dog that was reluctant to eat.)


Supposedly a healthy dog won't starve himself..but..not starving doesn't mean in good condition either! And I think for most people having a skinny dog not want to eat is really frustrating!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Mfmst said:


> I guess piggy is the dominant gene. Should have asked!


LOL! Who knows!


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Beau is a picky eater -- he immediately picks up and gobbles down anything he can find! :smile:


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Mfmst said:


> Catherine, how do you give Lilly pills? In cheese? PB was my "go to" for medicine. Guess I can use raw chicken skin. Brrrrrrrrr...


I can put them in cheese or they are both pretty cooperative with me just opening their mouths and sticking my hand in to get the pill far enough back to ensure they swallow. Neither of them chews their chewable heart worm pill anymore, argghh! The flip side of that is that I can also stick my hand in their mouths and take naughty stuff out all the way up to when they gulp to swallow.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I think that while a dog is unlikely to starve itself, it may be picky for good reason. Sophy will not eat turkey, for example, for the excellent reason that it makes her very unwell! I wonder how many dogs have been labelled picky for refusing to eat food that their bodies have taught them to view as poison (if you have ever had severe food poisoning you may remember avoiding the food that caused it for ages), or because the food smells of dangerous moulds or other nasties. Most of Sophy's isms are about texture - she doesn't like sticky, gluey food - so I simply avoid those now.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

You must be an oracle fjm! It was the texture! Buck likes his kibble dry, water on the side. How basic is that? Maybe he'll be a free feeder too. At least I can use his leftovers as treats. I have noticed that he rejects certain necks. Since they are defrosted that day, I put them back. Rejected twice, and they're pitched.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Mfmst, I am smiling here once again at the similarities of our experiences with our puppies so far! Like Buck (and Lily!) Dulcie just does not like peanut butter. However, I would not classify her as a picky eater - though I was concerned in the early weeks! Yes, during the first week, she only seemed to want to be hand fed! That passed, though. Then she didn't seem to like canned dog food - what dog turns up its nose at wet food? Um, Dulcie did - but only during those first weeks. I reintroduced it later and she likes it very well, thank you very much!
I also tried wetting the dry food - haha! I was even going to post here to you that perhaps you should just go with dry and plain - and then I got to the end and you already had got there yourself.  I also wetted Dulcie's kibble with warm water to make gravy and she liked it a bit and then didn't. Finally, I stopped topping her kibble with ANYTHING, and lo and behold - crunch crunch munch munch mmmmmmmm mom this is great! 

Of course, she had a bit of tummy upset the first couple of weeks too - due to my mistake of forgetting to bring some of the breeder's kibble home with me. Then, I went to rice and chicken - which she loved, and then the gradual switch to the kibble - which was complicated by my adding wet food to it, which she could do without.

Simple was definitely better.

Now, I have gradually reintroduced a spoonful of canned food to mix it up a little - which she loves. I also add a spoonful of yogurt at another meal once a day - which she ADORES! I use these little add-ons to work on preventing resource-guarding. I wait until she has begun to eat and then I gently poke my fingers in there, gently lift her chin and then add the yummy bit of extra. She is very cooperative. At lunch time, I still feed the first half of her kibble from between my fingers, using each finger full to work on sit, down, stand, wait and leave it. Then I have her sit and wait, put the bowl down and say OK! Lunch time! And she races over to finish. I will usually poke my fingers in there gently and just stir her kibble around at least once even at lunch time, to reinforce that my hand near her food bowl is not a problem.

The only thing now that she still definitely has no taste for is PB. I can live with that!

P.S. I meant to add also that sometimes Dulcie will clean her bowl and other times she eats some, a bit or most and leaves some. I was concerned in the early days because regular meals do help with house training. However, she has been so quick to train and is reliable now (within her limited area f the house) that I no longer will worry about that, either. 

You know, I thought there might not be any stage cuter or more wonderful than early puppy stage, but every stage has been wonderful so far and this slightly older puppy is wrapping her little black paws around my heart! It was so funny at the vet yesterday, she and her assistant were doting over Dulcie and saying how much they enjoy seeing puppies and also seeing them go home. Theyget a puppy fix without the headaches and remember how much they do NOT want a puppy right now. And I said I guess I"d better not tell you too many stories about Dulcie or you will want a new puppy because except for the nipping (which is already improving!), she has been a dream puppy! I hardly know that I had a very young puppy! Slept through the night before the first week was out (I tried to take her out in the wee hours and after the first couple of n ights, when she went willingly, she stayed lying in her crate looking at me as if to say, "What's up? I'm perfectly fine here!" and she was and has been ever since!). No potty accidents after the initial few days home (and perhaps 4 total, none serious) - learning her manners quickly, adorable and funny and playful and energetic dn SMART SMART SMART! I could go on - but you get the picture - YOU HAVE POODLES!


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

fjm said:


> I think that while a dog is unlikely to starve itself, it may be picky for good reason. Sophy will not eat turkey, for example, for the excellent reason that it makes her very unwell! I wonder how many dogs have been labelled picky for refusing to eat food that their bodies have taught them to view as poison (if you have ever had severe food poisoning you may remember avoiding the food that caused it for ages), or because the food smells of dangerous moulds or other nasties. Most of Sophy's isms are about texture - she doesn't like sticky, gluey food - so I simply avoid those now.


fjm, it did occur to me later that years ago our Lab was reluctant to eat from a new bag of the food we'd been feeding for a long time. A Lab refusing to eat?? Not under normal circumstances. We decided there was something wrong with that bag and switched to another brand. End of problem.


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## West U (Jul 30, 2014)

I have to agree with the starving comment, unless health is an issue. I put my poodle pup's food down 4 times a day sometimes she eats sometimes she doesn't. I feed our older dog once a day. I've had dogs for over 55 years, poodles when a kid, not one ever starved themselves to death.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

When Molly was a puppy I thought she was a picky eater, but figured out it was that the kibble was too hard/big for her and that it hurt to chew as she was teething! As she got older she has definite likes and dislikes (No PB) and is willing to taste anything, but if she doesn't like it she will spit it out and that is that........not picky, just selective Hahaha!!!

She is also a 'grazer' it takes her all day to eat her 1/4 cup portion of kibble! (She does get raw chicken or dehydrated food in the a.m., that she eats immediately though!)


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## Lou (Sep 22, 2012)

My 2 are picky eaters. But after a lot of trial and error . I got 'em figure out now!  I know what they like and will do anything for ! And they do fine with their dog-food 5 star kibble plain! Sometimes less is more. And once in a while I add a topping like *minced* cooked unseasoned ground beef (so they can't pick the meat out and leave the kibble LOL) 

But they are at a stable healthy weight. Finally got it worked out. Good luck to everyone that is still struggling 

That's just water on the picture though. They know they are allowed to drink out of the same bowl, but cannot eat each other's food, so That way I can always tell if "someone" is not eating enough and might need a little supplement (topping) that day


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## Lou (Sep 22, 2012)

Ps. Wanted to share a story from another thread. I'm very strict with not allowing dogs to "steal" or beg for human food and also to not pick up or eat anything off the ground. 
And they are totally cool with that.

I'm lucky They are just amazing 

But I think "consistency" in training helps a ton! They know they pretty much HAVE TO eat their food  and the treats and unseasoned meat I cook for them etc. 

So here's the story 

My poodles know they are not allowed to pick up anything off the ground/floors..... Not even treats if I drop them. I pick it up myself and hand-feed it to them  

But when Apollo is happy to see us or just excited about something he'll pick up a toy or a sock and parade around with it in his mouth to refrain from mouthing us,  while wagging his tail frantically 

This is the crazy part 
I just went upstairs and told hubby to let them out to potty and come upstairs so we could all watch TV in bed.

As Hubby gets in the room he says: "Apollo has something in his mouth, probably a sock/toy or something"

I said: "turn on the lights!!" 

Hubby said: "Apollo show momma what you have in your mouth!" (Hubby did not know what it was!)

So I said: "drop it" (very sweet calm voice) 

And I see this COMPLETELY INTACT MINI REASES PEANUT BUTTER CUP!!!!!! It wasn't even smashed or deformed. It looked perfectly normal! 

Apollo must have been carrying it for a few minutes all the way up the stairs and onto our bed and dropped it on my hand!! I swear !!  I couldn't believe it ! He did not eat it, did not chew it, just held it , likes he does with toys  

Ps. I do give them peanut butter occasionally and they like it so... He knew what it was and still knew it didn't belong to him/that he wasn't allowed 

I'm amazed by my babies!!! Daily!! 
Lou wouldn't have eaten it either, but I've had her since she was a puppy! Apollo is a rescue, I got him when he was 12 months old!! See how similar they are? That's why I believe they MUST be litter mates


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

Sunny's a very picky eater, which I've only had once before (the other was a boxer, believe it or not!). However, I think his problem centers around fear, rather than the food itself (he's a rescue with a horrible past). I have to feed him out of sight of everyone, including me, so he feels safe. He'll come creeping around the corner to make sure we're staying put and away from him every couple of bites, poor guy, then go back and eat some more if he's satisfied that we're not moving. If we're up and busy, eating's a no-go. He's doing better now, but God forbid should I change the feeding place or the routine...

With that being said, if he doesn't finish eating within 15 minutes or so, I take it up. My other dog, Maddie, is a chow hound and would be happy to eat his leftovers - lol! He's gotten better since he's realized that it won't stay down forever. Sunny likes his kibble barely moistened with water. One drop too much and he won't touch it, silly poodle!


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