Is Bella just fussy or something else?

[fleshmarketclose]

We've had Bella for a year now. She is nine and a half a lhasa apso that we rescued. She had had a rough life previously, had been repeatedly bred from and came to us underweight, badly matted and with a lot of fleas.
She has changed a great deal and not sure whether all of it is for the better tbh but the issue we have at present is food. When she first came she was on Bakers complete but I don't think she was fed regularly as she used to wolf it down and scavenge constantly.
I slowly changed her over to Forthglade with a little bit of mixer for texture. This suits her really well, good weight, solid poos and it stopped the scavenging because she knows that she will be fed twice a day at the same time every day.
Now to the problem over the last couple of weeks she has decided to snub her breakfast so started making breakfast smaller and adding that to her dinner. She now doesn't eat breakfast at all, not because she isn't hungry because she will sit and beg for her treats and would eat them if I gave them to her but I'm hardhearted and just give her 45 minutes to eat breakfast and then remove it and she gets no treats until after she has eaten dinner. She eats dinner probably because she is really hungry by then.
Am I doing the right thing? She is fit and well, was at vets a fortnight ago and when I mentioned the breakfast thing he just advised to carry on as we were (making breakfast smaller) as she is a good weight and she'd had a dental and no issues with her mouth so believed it was behavioural. Should I change her food or just persevere and hope she gives in and is it a problem if she only eats once a day?

[Jouska]

The joys of a non eating dog :) it causes owners so much worry. I had a 9 week old puppy that did not eat for 4 days - I was on the gin at 8.30 in the morning - he is now a happy healthy 4 year old.

The best way to deal with this is counter intuitive to us humans. As you have had the dog checked out and there are no health issues I would cut down the size of all meals. Either pop the food on the floor and leave it for 15 mins then pick it up again or give the smaller food portion via training. DO not be tempted to up the food for a few days. Do not give treats during this time just the meals at meal time. It usually takes a few days to get them back into the habit of eating at the correct time.

It is not a problem if she only eats once a day - some dogs will sick up bile on an empty stomach and twice a day is recommended but if she want s one meal a day that is fine.

You can change food if you like but there is no need and it can cause a cycle.

[fleshmarketclose]

Thank you, I will carry on being hardhearted then I think and remove her food when she doesn't eat it. I don't want to change her food because it suits her. She's becoming a bit of a diva I think as she realises she is here for good.

[Moondust001]

Every dog will eat treats if available. I used to swear that one of my old dogs would perk up and eat a treat even if he was actually dead! Have you turned down a chocolate recently?

It might be the weather. There's a natural cycle that in hotter weather many dogs transfer their eating habits to later in the day or even late at night.

[Nesssie]

Can you mix up a small amount of thin gravy to pour over?
Or give her a chew as her breakfast instead?