How do I get my dog to eat her dried food?
My puppy (11 month old Terrier mix) wont eat her dry food. I have tried a few different brands, but she just doesnt seem interested. When I first adopted her, she was given canned food. I dont want her eating that anymore and she just doenst really like dried food. I started to mix steamed rice with her food and she eats mostly the rice and some of the food. She will eat the dry food if she is really hungry and has to eat something. How do I get her to start eating the dry food without the rice?
I had a Great Dane that was like that his whole life totally spoiled. I tried and tried to just not feed him anything else offering him his dry dog food only. He would only eat enough to servive. He just wasn't maintaining a good weight. Then I tried to add the craps and yes he picked them out as well. Then I thought why not try the gravy train type dog food. Well he really hated that. I was at my wits end. Now keep in mind I had three dogs at the time and only he had food issues. Well please don't scream at me dog lovers but I finally found a middle ground. For the last 5 years of his life I actually cooked for this dog. I used the basic dry dog food and I cooked the topping for it as it were. It was always different and involved what the family was having most of the time. His favorites were actually tomato sauces and of course steak or meat red eye (which is whatever meat you cook in a pan a tad of oil heat and mix in water. It is a thin gravy). You can also make a thin gravy with a tiny amount of flower added. This is great if you cooked chicken on the stove or even baked. The point is this more watery gravy can be mixed into the dry dog food. It gives them the feeling and taste of table food and they can't pick out what they want . They have to eat the food. Also I kept a few gravy just add water packets when I didn't have anything on hand. I few times I even cooked him chip beef. That is the dried beef browned in a pan with a tad of oil then add a little flower and water making the same thin gravy. Yes he was spoiled but I knew someone that cooked full meals for her poodle broiled chicken and vegs.
Of course there is the method of offerring the food once in the morning. If he doesn't eat take it away and do the same thing in the morning. The dog will get hungry enough to eat. Nothing in between and no people food or treats ever. Evita