# What to do with the Picky Poodle!



## warmheartedpups (Feb 27, 2012)

So Casey has turned into a very picky eater....he was doing fine on some kibble that came with him when he was adopted....within three weeks he wouldnt eat it...so I switched to Fromms kibble...he LOVED it...for two weeks...then refused to eat that.
Then I tried Fromms canned formula and at $3.50 per can....and going through a can every other day.....of course...he LOVES it. I do feed a bit less and set a small bowl of the kibble out...which he rarely touches

I tried mixing the canned with the kibble and every piece of kibble that went into his mouth...he would spit it right out. My kitchen floor was littered with kibble.

I wish I could afford to feed him Fromms forever...but it is really expensive. I do not want to feed raw.

Does anyone know of a good canned dog food that isnt quite as expensive?


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## PaddleAddict (Feb 9, 2010)

Have you had his teeth checked? Is it possible that it hurts him to chew the kibble?


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## warmheartedpups (Feb 27, 2012)

PaddleAddict said:


> Have you had his teeth checked? Is it possible that it hurts him to chew the kibble?




yes...its not his teeth...he chews like crazy on rawhides...bones etc. Vet said teeth are fine.


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## Theo'sMom (Mar 23, 2011)

Theo is very picky with kibble. These work for me some of the time... I boil 1/3 pound lean ground beef in a cup of water and use a small amount as a gravy on his kibble. This lasts several days. Or I boil a piece of chicken, debone it and give him chicken gravy on his kibble. Both have little bits of chicken or beef in them. Alternating means he doesn't get bored.
For one meal Theo gets frozen raw, which he eats just fine.


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## lrkellly (Jan 6, 2012)

Have you tried mixing the canned with the kibble and stirring in some warm water, a few tablespoons? This will soften the kibble and integrate the canned in more fully, making it more difficult for him to separate the two. Plus I think its easier on their stomach because water expands the kibble before its eaten (so it won't expand in the dog's stomach). The warmth also makes the food more appetizing, for Sprout anyway.

Sprout does the same thing, but once I added the water he ate more of the kibble. He still leaves some behind sometimes, but he does not get any more food until his bowl is clean. I think this is important for your dog to understand as well. 

Also it helps to put a mat down under the food dishes to prevent kibble from getting all over the floor


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

_Sung to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor."_

What do you do with a picky poodle,
What do you do with a picky poodle,
What do you do with a picky poodle,
Early in the morning.

Put out the kibble and let it lay there,
Put out the kibble and let it lay there,
Put out the kibble and let it lay there,
Early in the morning.

Add some canned and a little warm water,
Add some canned and a little warm water,
Add some canned and a little warm water,
Early in the morning.

Switch him to raw, you can do it,
Switch him to raw, you can do it,
Switch him to raw, you can do it,
Early in the morning.


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## warmheartedpups (Feb 27, 2012)

Thanks I needed that good laugh this a.m.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy used to like kibble until it began to get a bit stale - after 3 weeks or so. Could Casey be the same? If you don't want to feed raw, have you considered home-cooked? Much cheaper than high quality canned, and not much effort if you have a slow cooker and a freezer. Some helpful ideas here: DogAware.com: Homemade Diets for Dogs


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## Joelly (May 8, 2012)

Thank you warmheartedpups for posting this question, I have the same problem with my 15-week-old toy poodle, Charlie. 

We feed him Innova kibble for puppy mix with Innova can (also for puppy), then mix that with either a chicken or beef broth or warm water. This is too soften the kibble before we feed it to him. However, Charlie does the same thing Casey does, he would put the kibble in his mouth and suck whatever he can out of it and spit the dried kibble out. He does this everytime.

I would try the suggestion that the bowl should be left there until he finishes it. Let me see if this works. Thanks Everyone for good suggestions!!


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## Sapphire-Light (Jun 9, 2010)

Sometimes raw is not going to work all the times to make a picky poodle to eat.

My toy poodle who gets raw has refused to eat raw meals many times, as well kibble, but this is because my parents had fed him human food while I was in classes and not looking.

If a dog have tasted things like donuts, cupcakes, fried chicken, tamales, cakes, butter crackers, etc.. is logic that a plain piece of meat without any seasonings is not going to be interesting to him.

The raw have helped, but he still refuses to eat sometimes, like today in the morning.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

LOL @ LEUllman - that was great! I am glad to read that others add some warm water to kibble. I never did that but when we adopted Lily a week and a half ago, that's what her foster mom told us to do for her. My other dogs would pick thru the kibble and leave pieces all over the place and I wish I would have tried to add some water. Warmheatedpup, good luck and try adding the water to the kibble/canned mixture. Or when he get's hungry enough he'll eat.


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

I once had a boxer (RIP Duke!) that *had me trained *to change his kibble every few weeks too, until I finally wised up! He'd eat a new kibble (all premium brands, mind you) great guns for a couple of weeks, then he'd turn up his nose at it. I was the master at add-ins, trying to get the "poor boy" to eat. Finally, someone on the boxer forum gave me the same advice I'll give you: pick a good food, add a little water (doesn't even have to be warm - lol!), put the food down for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pick up the bowl, finished or not. Repeat at the next meal. While in the picky stage, no between meal treats. 

Duke lasted 3 days with no food, and boy, was he a master at giving me the stink-eye (boxers are very good at that look!). After that - no problems! He'd try the picky routine again from time-to-time, and I'd give him another dose of "tough love".

We have no picky eaters at my house! Both Maddie and Potsie do the "happy dance" at every meal.


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

Cali is also not that interested in food. I don't really have any advice, I just wanted to commiserate with you. LOL

To add to her disinterest in food, I also suspect she has food allergies, so I haven't wanted to try a lot of different brands with a lot of differing ingredients. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking if she does turn out to have allergies, I'm going to need some novel protein sources.

I tried a couple of different brands at first, trying to stick to basically the same ingredients. She loved them for a few days and then went back to picking at them. Even though I tried to change her over very slowly, she had some looser poops and also started scratching more, so I just put her back onto the brand she came to me with.

My previous two dogs (Rotties) had inflammatory bowel disease and numerous food sensitivities so I fed them a homemade cooked diet. I'd wanted to wait until Cali was an adult to switch her over to homemade but recently had her at the pet sitter's for three days where she refused to eat! I decided maybe I'd better formulate a homemade diet for her right now and see if she'd eat that any better.

I have a sinking feeling she probably won't. I'm still in the process of replacing the kibble with the homemade. The first 4 or 5 days, she cleaned up all her food immediately. The last couple of days, she's been back to her old self. I strongly suspect even when she's fully on homeprepared, she won't eat any better.

Here at home, she will have finished her daily ration of food by the end of the day but at the sitter's, she doesn't have the luxury of wandering back and forth all day. I'm hoping that with the homemade, since I can't leave it down all day, she'll maybe clue in she has to eat when she gets it because it won't appear again until later! I have my doubts about that though, LOL, I think that eating is always going to be at the bottom of her priority list. I've decided I'm just going to offer her what I want her to eat and as long as her daily ration is mostly gone by the end of the day, that'll be good enough. 

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do if she pulls the not eating stunt at the sitter's again though. I've owned large and small dogs before but never owned one who wasn't interested in food!


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## Joelly (May 8, 2012)

caroline429 said:


> I've owned large and small dogs before but never owned one who wasn't interested in food!


Same here. I've never feel failed to feed a dog until I own a toy poodle. Charlie is so finicky.


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## Ruscha_Baby (May 22, 2011)

*Liver Little*

Of all the foods in all the world, both my Mini and my Toy go mad about raw pig's or sheep's liver. It's the only thing my otherwise polite Mini will steal.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I do as Ga.peach, and I don't have picky eaters... ever.


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

Carley's Mom said:


> I do as Ga.peach, and I don't have picky eaters... ever.


The pet sitter was sure that Cali would eat eventually too so she just made sure she always had access to water and was drinking. Three days in, Cali still hadn't eaten anything so I guess you could say she's been given the "tough love" approach too. When I got her home, I put down a meal for her and she ate half of it, but that was it. Her eating habits are no different now than before not eating for 3 days.

I have no problem with "tough love" when it comes to an adult dog, but I'm hesitant to do it with a growing puppy and I wouldn't try it at all on a small toy because they're prone to hypoglycemia. As it was, Cali lost a pound in the three days. This was almost 1/10 her weight which isn't great as she is an incredibly active puppy who still has a bit of growing to do.

Cali usually finishes her daily allotment of food, it's just she won't eat it all in one go when you put it down. At home, this is no big deal, if it's not finished in about 15 minutes, I just pick it up and offer it again later. I'm not going to pander to her and change her food every few weeks and I don't panic if some days she doesn't eat it all, but I am going to try and see if I can come up with a few tricks that'll spur her to eat better, especially when she's boarded.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I think the problem was that you had left her. But I agree, a growing puppy would be a greater concern. Hope you get it figured out and I think you will.
You are staying calm and trying differant things , something will work for you.


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## Curly (Jun 5, 2012)

1 How do you react after setting down the bowl? Sometimes we are pressuring our dogs without knowing it. Dont make it a big deal if the dog eats or not. 
2 Is the dog really hungry or has it been eating something else?
3 15 min without eating... take the bowl and throw the food away. No extra until next meal. 
4 How much food do you give? Trigger the appettite by giving a little less food. The dog should eat up and want more.. than will make him more motivated to eat next time.. and hopefully it becames a habit to emty the bowl. 
5 Dont give the dog crap.. choose a really good food with a few but high quality ingredienses... dont give food made of corn and wheat and strange healthstuff like herbs and berries and algae.. remember that the dog has a strong nose. My little dont like kibble in the morning... so I give her a raw dogfood with cow stomach ( thats irresistibly for my dog) In the evening she is more hungry and happily eats the kibble . I always pour water on and a little salmon-oil
6 When do you feed? Before or after the walks? Try to walk first and then feed.


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## Poodle Lover (Mar 24, 2008)

Two words: home cooked, especially if it's a toy poodle and you only have one. It is so easy, you cook once a week and freeze in individual portions. 

There is a fabulous site that is a wealth of informtion on dog food and proper nutrition is called The Dog Food Project. The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare? The woman who owns the siteaid named Sabine and she is a dog nutritionist and is incredibly knowledgable. It talks about kibble, canned, home made and raw. It's a must see if you haven't been there. Several of my friends from the Havanes forum had her evaluate and create individual diets for their dogs and were very pleased. 

Julia


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

Poodle Lover said:


> There is a fabulous site that is a wealth of informtion on dog food and proper nutrition is called The Dog Food Project. The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare? The woman who owns the siteaid named Sabine and she is a dog nutritionist and is incredibly knowledgable. It talks about kibble, canned, home made and raw. It's a must see if you haven't been there. Several of my friends from the Havanes forum had her evaluate and create individual diets for their dogs and were very pleased.


I can certainly attest that Sabine knows her stuff, I have used her services in the past and was pleased.  All of Sabine's diets are properly balanced per the 2006 National Research Council's publication "Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats" which lays out a dog's RDA for all vitamins, minerals, fats, protein, etc. My personal preference for a dog's diet is one based on science/research so I was happy with Sabine's approach.


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## Joelly (May 8, 2012)

I tried the suggestion to feed small portions to Charlie (my toy poodle) and it works. He licks his plate last nite and this morning too. I took him for a 15-min walk before feeding him so that helps too. I usually walk him in the morning before breakfast (while his kibble soaked in a warm water). He is 16 week old now and due for his 3rd shot this saturday.


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