When Doggie Hates the Menu

You may well know the feeling of staring at your dog while he or she stares at the food dish, sighs, and looks at you with an expression which clearly says “You expect ME to eat THAT?”

At those moments, you may even be wondering why you simply don’t just get a cat, which would at least be coming to you with the reputation of being a picky eater.

Most of us dog owners have found themselves in the same situation at one time or another. And because you are a kind-hearted sort, your dog knows that if it waits long enough, sure enough, something really tasty shows up.  Mission accomplished. Owner happy, dog happy and dog just won round one. Many owners are fixated on their dog’s eating habits. That only makes things get worse and worse.

Once your dog knows it can wrangle something else out of you, it will keep on keeping on until it gets right out of hand. And if you think feeding him later will be easier, think again. It only gets worse. This type of behavior needs to be nipped in the bud immediately. Besides, who is the Alpha dog here anyhow – YOU or the dog?

Owners of finicky eaters can get caught up constantly changing their dog’s diet to try to get them to eat. This only makes your dog hold out to see if anything better is being offered. And then you have more problems to sort out.

And if you do make sudden dog diet changes, this can cause digestive upsets for your dog. Any diet change needs to be done slowly. Add a small amount of new food to your pet’s current food and gradually increase that amount while decreasing the amount of the current food over a seven to ten day period.

But right now what we are discussing is NOT catering to a fusspot – so changing foods constantly isn’t going to help matters any.

Have you ever purchased a whole stack of types of dog food (canned and dry) to let your dog figure out what he likes? Not a good idea, because if he doesn’t like anything, three guesses who will be running out and trying to find something better. Right – you!

What can you do?

The basic rule of thumb is if that any dog which gets hungry enough they WILL eat no matter what is in the bowl. Have patience and ye shall be rewarded. Don’t hover, plead, cajole, hand feed, or change the food. Just leave it in the bowl and —- WAIT!

The value of having your dog on a timetable and on a regular dog diet can’t be over emphasized. Dogs thrive on routine, and besides, if you don’t establish a routine and stick to it, your dog will implement one himself. Dogs without routines and a “pack leader” take over the roles themselves and you won’t like the consequences.

If you feed regularly at the same time (or close to it) daily then when the food hits the floor then your dog will be there to eat it – and will in fact learn to anticipate being fed. If you never thought dogs (or other animals) could tell time, try missing your regular feeding time one day.

Here is the most effective thing to do when you feed a finicky dog. Feed at the regular time and if they do not eat the food within 15 minutes, you take the bowl up and put the food back in the fridge. The next time that bowl comes out and goes down on the floor is the second feeding of the day. Period! Watch how fast your dog catches on to the fact if he doesn’t eat when the food is there, it’s GONE.

If your pal is getting adequate amounts of a palatable and nutritious food two times a day, you have fulfilled your responsibilities as far as feeding is concerned. Don’t let doggie involve you in a battle of wills like a spoiled child who won’t go to bed without first having ice cream. That food dish is YOUR domain!

Every dog owner who is concerned about what they are feeding their dog needs to read the book, Dog Food Dangers, by Shandra Baker at http://budurl.com/dogfooddangers.

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