Dinner time

[foxlover47]

Looking for suggestions please my dogs are both 2 , really tricky to feed ... even when it comes to treats.
Have tried a raw diet , they didn't touch it , complete food dry, picked a few bits ... walked away, tinned grain free butchers.. ate for a couple of days then wouldn't , dry mixed with tin.. sniff walk away..
cook a chicken they will eat that but I'm worried that there isn't enough vitamins etc in that because I can't add veg or they won't eat it ..
I know the school of thought is if they are hungry they will eat it but I can't stand them not and I don't want meat hanging around the kitchen they haven't eaten , or dry left out , I've tried the take it away and give it later too ...
Has anyone got fussy dogs who have found a brand that they will like? I'm sick of buying brands and they don't eat it ... I do use what they don't to feed the local foxes but would like them to eat their dinner

You just need to be consistent - pick a food they like (Butchers sounds like a good bed) and be strict with meal times.

Set meal times - put the food down (heat it if you like to make it more interesting), leave it twenty minutes, then remove. They then get nothing until their next meal time. Rinse and repeat until they "get it." It shouldn't take more than a day or two.

They can't just live off cooked chicken - dogs need a balanced diet which includes the right proportion of meat, offal etc.

I do a combination of Lily’s Kitchen, Butcher’s, and homemade (loads of recipes online). I try to limit the wet food as he’s got a sensitive stomach so mix the above with Arden Grange Sensitive. He gets AG for breakfast, and AG plus wet at lunch and dinner, although he tends to eat the wet and leave his kibble. A few treats in between if we’re doing training games. He either eats it or starves - I have found he will go back to his kibble once he realises there’s nothing more on offer.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts thank you I'll try this , I know they love their chicken but like you said it's not varied enough with what they need ... they prob no it's my fault because I give in and worry so I will try and be more consistent

@SirChenjins I think Arden grange is one that I haven't tried so I'll look at that , they have liked lilys kitchen in the past too ... I've never had this much trouble getting children to eat in the past , thank you

My picky ddog really enjoys forthglade and mix of flavours stopes her getting bored

I had a fussy dog - liked to graze. I'd put his breakfast down and he'd pick at it all morning which meant the food sat around for hours.
I'd finally had enough so put his food down one morning, and put it back in the bag when he hadn't touched it within 15 mins. Same again that dinner and at breakfast the second day, the whole bowl was wolfed down in one go and never had a problem since. It's a bit like 'who is the parent and who is the child?'

@PineappleRingo they do wet and dry don't they ? I am writing these down , thank you :)

[quote foxlover47]@fairylightsandwaxmelts thank you I'll try this , I know they love their chicken but like you said it's not varied enough with what they need ... they prob no it's my fault because I give in and worry so I will try and be more consistent [/quote]
I did the same with mine when he was younger

It "clicked" when we did set meal times and removing food, though, and we've never, ever had an issue since.

We picked a food with a variety of flavours and if their stomach tolerates it, there's no problem at all with switching between brands and textures to alleviate boredom.

@tootrueblue that's exactly what it feels like to me !! Trying to get your kids to eat dinner 🙈🤣

@fairylightsandwaxmelts it makes so much sense though listen to what you said , I will start tomorrow with this plan and stick to it knowing they aren't going to starve if they don't play ball and it will teach them to not play Me!!🙈🤣

They have no allergies or intolerances so am pretty lucky that way but I think by pandering I've possibly taught them to be too fussy

Butternut Box works for my dogs. I've never heard of a dog that doesn't love it.

[quote foxlover47]@fairylightsandwaxmelts it makes so much sense though listen to what you said , I will start tomorrow with this plan and stick to it knowing they aren't going to starve if they don't play ball and it will teach them to not play Me!!🙈🤣[/quote]
I remember giving my dog tinned tuna because I was so worried he wasn't eating - no wonder he refused his food

@foxlover47 yes we feed a mix of both. Started off with just wet to get her eating but she really seems to enjoy this, sometimes she actually hints for dinner (and that makes me so happy ) as before was so hit and miss if she’d eat
They do a trail pack which is reasonable just in case ddog doesn’t like it

@BaggingTheWainwrights I have heard of that before I will look into that too , thank you

@fairylightsandwaxmelts whahahahahah they really aren't silly are they , I would happily have tuna for dinner too lol
They've never ate sort of normal dog biscuits either like the gravy bones or marrowbones they are a bit weird I think !

@PineappleRingo awww yes that must be nice knowing she wants it and is enjoying it :) I will look for that pack and give it a go :)

I have a non-foodie dog.
Won't eat 'treat' dog biscuits or any kind of dog food so we make him brown rice, meat (minced beef/turkey/lamb or tuna) and frozen mixed veg.
We also warm it so it smells nice and give him lots of praise when he eats it.
We also pretend to tell the cats off for eating his food when he fails to come & eat it which makes him run growling to save his food from the competition.

I might try some of the ideas on here re putting down dinner then removing it if not eaten as I need to know he's had his medication mixed with food and it's not eaten by his foodie feline flat mates.

@Ruralbliss awwww he sounds like a character 😀 I could give that a try too with warm brown rice , thank you
The things we do for our pets ! My old dog from years back was like a hoover , there literally wasn't a single thing for dinner that he wouldn't eat , he loved dog biscuits , everything !
These will turn down dinner , go for their night walk and have a good old attempt to munch any recent horse poop though 🙈

When I tried the tough love approach our pup lost 0.7kg in a month. We're now feeding a mix of Acana kibble and either forthglade 90% or a fish4dogs mixer, and occasionally some of what we're eating if suitable. Changing food doesn't seem to give her any issues so I don't mind swapping about apart from the fact that small bags can be twice as expensive as larger bags.

I'd love if pup at least showed a little bit of excitement about eating.

@tizwozliz awww she is gorgeous 😍
I know what you mean , all the effort we put into trying to make dinner nice for them 😂