# Picky Puppy



## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

Honey is incredibly picky. It's really hard to get her on any kind of schedule as she won't eat her kibble out of her dish most of the time.

She will eat it off the floor sometimes or from your hand. Occasionally, she will go to her dish and eat. But this is becoming rarer as she gets older. We usually have to coax her to eat. 

We tried wet food and she HATED it. She does like her kibble, it's just a job to remind her to eat! 

She is 17 weeks...is it too soon to try and put the bowl down for half an hour and then take it away until evening, and repeat? We don't want to starve her obviously but we figure she won't be able to play games and actually eat when very hungry! 

Any other suggestions?


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

She is young but the more you fuss over her to eat, the more picky she will be. Don't feed her by hand, don't congratulate her when she eats, don't even look at her.

Feed her at a strict schedule, leave the food down for 5-10 minutes and take it away. She'll eat next time. And no treats when she doesn't est, or she'll just live on treats.

Some dogs are like that. Fussy. Mine is. I do exactly as I wrote, and sometimes, maybe half or one third of the time, he doesn't it. Well, too bad, you'll eat next time.

Before you start, you have to make sure she likes the food. If she eats it from your hands, good enough. 

She won't starve herself. If you feed her 3 times a day, it's okay if she skips one meal once in a while. When she skips, she can have more next time, to make up for lost calories.

Give her a few days to adjust to this new routine. If you're firm and stick to it, it will work.


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

I think, if she's healthy and the issue isn't the food, it's totally fine to start leaving the food down for a limited amount of time. Are you free feeding now?

One thing I did notice with Hans was that he wouldn't eat well when he was teething because his mouth hurt. We had to wet his kibble for a while.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Molly has always been free fed but did have a time at about the same age as Honey where she wasn't eating much........it WAS her teeth! So I used low sodium chicken broth to wet it a bit. 
As long as Honey is bright eyed and active I wouldn't worry too much about her missing a meal........she'll eat when she's hungry! LOL! (just don't fill her up on treats!) 
Molly is still a 'grazer' and will take a mouthful of kibble, carry it away and spit it out on the floor and eat it........very rarely does she stand there and eat out of her bowl! Hasn't starved herself yet! LOL!


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

MollyMuiMa said:


> Molly has always been free fed but did have a time at about the same age as Honey where she wasn't eating much........it WAS her teeth! So I used low sodium chicken broth to wet it a bit.
> As long as Honey is bright eyed and active I wouldn't worry too much about her missing a meal........she'll eat when she's hungry! LOL! (just don't fill her up on treats!)
> *Molly is still a 'grazer' and will take a mouthful of kibble, carry it away and spit it out on the floor and eat it........very rarely does she stand there and eat out of her bowl!* Hasn't starved herself yet! LOL!


Sounds like a horse we used to have at the barn. Maritime was the pickiest eater ever...and used to not like her grain mixed at all. Eventually she allowed us graciously to mix the food but would take huge mouthfuls of the food, put on the floor until she had a good pile, eat the grain still in the bucket, then eat her pile on the floor. Good heavens.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Dechi said:


> She is young but the more you fuss over her to eat, the more picky she will be. Don't feed her by hand, don't congratulate her when she eats, don't even look at her.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I am going to agree with you on everything but the treats - a little treat can often wake up the appetite, plus often if their stomach get too empty they might get gassy, start spitting up bile, and then they have a really good reason for not eating - they don't feel good!
I would not give them a meal of treats, but one or two to prevent them from getting totally empty!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

As others have said, suspect her teeth hurt and try moistening the kibble with warm water or low sodium chicken stock. One joint of chicken simmered until it falls apart in 2 pints of water, remove all bones, freeze in ice cube trays and defrost cubes as needed. A cube makes a good hot weather treat, too!


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