# Need help for picky Toy Poodle



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

Nope, it's not Willow. She's actually a little fatty.

My friend has a toy poodle, Sasha. Sasha has never liked to eat food. Three weeks ago, my friend calls in a panic. Sasha won't really eat and has lost down to 6.2 lbs from 7 lbs. Needs to be a little fatter.

Sasha came to my house 2 weeks ago for the day. She ate all of Willow's food. So, I sent some home with her. Sasha would not eat it at home. WHAT?

MY friend has tried changing bowls... Willow eats from a glass prep bowl. So, she switched to a glass bowl. She ate from it for a few days.

To date she's tried Acana, Sojos, TOTW, Wellness Core, Solid Gold Just a Wee bit (I am currently feeding this to Willow because it is such small kibble...not married to it) and Stella and Chewie's.

She was eating the S and C's for a few days. Then, suddenly stopped eating.

Fast-forward...Sasha is at my house now for a few days. Yesterday, she ate some of Willow's food and some of the S and C from Willow's little bowl. Not a lot, but enough. 

Tonight she ate a tiny bit of S and C. But, when I offered her food from my hand she just gobbled it up. She ate the S and C and the Solid Gold. She ate a ton of food from my hand. 

Sasha is a very submissive dog. When I put her food down, she tucks tail and runs away and gets on the nearest rug/carpet. So, I took the food to her. She also eats just a bit and runs off.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am wondering if she had something happen when she was a tiny puppy (she's 11 months now) with a sibling...maybe one of them guarded the food. 

But, while Sasha is with me, I'd like to try to figure out what works to help this poor sweet soul to feel comfortable eating... and like to eat.


----------



## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Can you put her in an enclosed area (room or xpen) and just put kibble on floor, then ignore her. Just see what happens. Some people always feed that way. Of course, this won't work with canned food.


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

MiniPoo said:


> Can you put her in an enclosed area (room or xpen) and just put kibble on floor, then ignore her. Just see what happens. Some people always feed that way. Of course, this won't work with canned food.


Excellent idea!


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

Btw, I am separating them during feeding.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Yes, I would separate them while they eat so that you know how much each eats. You still need to make sure Willow gets what she needs! 

Is Sasha still eating puppy formula? Maybe it was transition to adult formula?

I also like minipoo's idea about putting kibble on the floor. My mom's mini doesn't eat much kibble, but what he does eat is off the floor. Not so much with Lily but Peeves almost always takes kibble out of the bowl and puts it on the floor and then eats it off the floor.

I would also suggest change one thing at a time to be able to figure out what the key factor is. I would also suggest only feeding a little bit by hand. You don't want to turn her into a dog who thinks food will always be delivered this way.

I will think about this some more to see if I have a light bulb idea.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Interesting that she eats easily when hand fed, but not from a bowl. My mother had a pup that was by far the smallest in the litter - the breeder used to feed her on her lap to make sure she got enough. I can't remember how my mother got her eating on the floor, but I suspect, knowing my mother, it involved some extra good food and a dose of tough love...

Sophy was faddy with kibble - she disliked it as soon as it was the least bit stale. Since I have been feeding her raw/home cooked the bowl is usually licked clean in seconds. Home cooked in particular is very easy for toys, and no more expensive than buying and chucking bags of kibble! But if your friend wants to feed kibble, and just leaving dog and scattered food together in a quiet place doesn't work, I think I would try a sort of reverse resource guarding, starting by feeding her from my hand, then hand with kibble near bowl, hand in bowl, kibble in bowl with hand nearby, and gradually withdrawing further and further as she learns it is safe to eat. The less fuss and encouragement the better, I think - it sounds as if mealtimes have become fraught with anxiety for all concerned, which can't be helping.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Stale kibble, that could be a big clue!


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

Truthfully, Sasha has never been a good eater... It's gotten worse instead of better. 

We thought about stale kibble. So the first thing my friend did was to buy a new bag. No dice!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I would try as fjm suggests. I hope you can get Sasha on a better routine to help your friend out. What does her vet think about all this?


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

I was able to get her to eat from a bowl this am. She ate over 1/3 of a cup.... Of Willow's food. However, I had to be with her and pet her and reassure her. She only ran off once. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I am glad to hear you seem to have made a bit of progress.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

It sounds as if reassurance is the key. Is she any happier eating in a safe place - a crate if she is crate trained, or a quiet enclosed room? From the day Poppy arrived, Sophy made it very clear that she would prefer her meals in a separate room, on a rug, with me there to see she was not interrupted... Sometimes it is just easier to make a cup of coffee and go with the flow, although I am sure visitors wonder why there is usually a dog blanket spread over the sitting room rug!


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

She has not eaten in her crate... But, I will do to her what I did Willow. Put in a snack at bedtime.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I like the others' ideas. One other idea that I've noticed works sometimes is to do a bit of training fun. Use the food as rewards and sometimes they like it better. Any ole' trick or obedience skill will do....if it's associated with lots of fun, sometimes they just seem to value the food all the better.


----------



## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

You could try putting it in a food toy like a kong or something, and give it to her in the crate. 
There really is no perfect solution for a picky eater, you just have to keep trying.
I am so grateful that finally, finally I have one that isn't, but still I am having a heck of a time trying to keep Timi away as I go through my song and dance to get food into her older sisters!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Jamie Hein (Aug 17, 2013)

Kennedy was doing this same thing for awhile. I tried all sorts of kibble, canned and pre-made frozen raw. He would eat it for awhile and then suddenly have nothing to do with it. Then I started feeding him on the couch so that he was less scared and that worked for some time but not totally. The only thing that has worked well for the most time so far is feeding him prey model raw. I purchase meats and organs from the grocery store and with some easy calculations on amounts I feed him that.


----------



## Poodlelvr (Mar 13, 2010)

I have two toys. A personal health scare last summer made me think that I had better get them used to commercial food. If you have to depend on others to fill in for you, you cannot expect them to start cooking for your pups. A four pound bag of kibble lasts very long for two small dogs and goes stale. On this part of the forum there is a thread caller "Freezing Dried Food." This has been very helpful for me. I do suggest you look at it. I choose small kibble, and when I open a new 4 lb. bag, I divide it into 4 plastic freezer bags. Three go into the freezer; one into the fridge. I feed kibble and canned. I also add a couple of teaspoons of low fat, low sodium chicken broth. The dogs are happy and are eating well.


----------



## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

lily cd re said:


> I would try as fjm suggests. I hope you can get Sasha on a better routine to help your friend out. What does her vet think about all this?


Vet said that she was under weight and to find something she liked.


----------



## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Satin balls are something that can be easily made and they're designed specifically to put weight on dogs and are usually very tasty. There are recipes online.


----------



## Sapphire-Light (Jun 9, 2010)

Something that has helped wit my toy is to make him aware in joyfull way before I'm serving his food

I will say "munchies" and clap my hands, I make sure he sees me preparing the food and let him smell it in the process before putting the bowl down , and then say "yum yum"

After that I leave were he eats and don't make loud nosies 

The dog will notice your happy so is not going to think you are taking the food away


----------

