I would really like to know why my dog is starting this habit ...  It is not a daft collie thing because I know the little Westie did it next door for a while too.  I feed Burns to my dog - well it is a dry food that is the main point.  She has just come out of kennels and is going through a picky stage again.  She obviously ate well in kennels ( they give her Burns there too) - she looked as if she had put weight on even though she was only in for a long weekend.  Now she is home she is turning her nose up at her food or taking a little out and carrying elsewhere to eat.  Either outside or as she did this morning onto the mat in the hall where she likes lying.  I pick up her bowl again if she doesn't eat it and offer it to her later.  She has only eaten enthusiastically when we put some scraps in.  Should I continue to lift her bowl and only offer it too her twice a day or should I be trying to encourage her to eat by adding something to make it more attractive.  The latter seems to be giving in to her finickyness!  She can't be really hungry can she.  Any advice please.
Christine

I feed Burns but always add something to it just to make it more appetising, usually some Butchers tripe etc.

I'de imagine Burns would be bland and tasteless..Low fat and protein usually equals-blah

There is absolutely nothing wrong with adding healthy extra's,infact it is encouraged by nutritionists for obvious reasons. However, add them at the first offering,not after she has already turned her nose up to it.This will help to ensure she eats it the first time,instead of refusing it knowing mum will eventually add something yummy.

You can add stuff like naturediet,crockpotted stew,healthy left overs from dinner,and you could rotate between different dry foods to keep things interesting for her :)

Hi, I agree, dried kibble is just so boring!  I always add a little something to the meals, bit of cooked stew meat, sausage, leftover rice, pasta, even a scrabbled egg,  just a bit of something and they always run to the dish to see what tasty treat they have this time. I would be cautious of keep changing kibbles though, could upset the tum.

An update.  I bought her a new bowl and she ate all her food straight away.  Today we are back to nibbling again.

Since coming out of kennels is she acting differently in any other way?  Could she be a bit annoyed you left her and now is attention seeking?! My girl has carried her food about in the past, but it's been if I fed her before a walk rather than after, think she's got her mind on other things if I feed her before.

I find halving rations a good appetite improver...................

Dogs have a choice in my house, eat or go without.

>Dogs have a choice in my house, eat or go without.

Thats all well and good,as long as the food(s) one is giving is healthy,tasty and agree's with the dog. For example i know my dogs would rather starve to death before eating a vegetarian diet,they would also wither away if i tried feeding them one of the grain based,2-4% meat commercial foods that abound today :rolleyes:

So while i agree with the above statement to a point,for me it only pertains if one is feeding as close to a species appropriate diet as possible,which alot of owners do not! Personally i dont blame the dogs who are fed nothing but a dry kibble and very little else, for every meal to eventually go off their food.

Think you might be preaching to the converted there Ktee ;)

>Think you might be preaching to the converted there Ktee

I know tohme feds raw..My message wasnt really directed at her :)

>Maybe you shoudl tell my dogs they should be bored of their dry food

I could if you wanted,but i doubt they would understand what i was saying... 

Maybe you shoudl tell my dogs they should be bored of their dry food ;)

My dogs like the Burns fish and rice best as it has a much stronger smell than the other varieties - they are also great fish lovers.  Try them on this.  My dogs both really snaffle this one!!!

I haven't seen the fish and rice one - my local pet shop sells the chicken and rice.  I keep thinking myself that it must be boring for a dog to have just dry food.  But it is supposed to be a balanced diet so if I give her anything else it is upsetting that.  However I do give her left overs occasionally and then she will eat her food as well.  I give her food twice a day now.  I offer half in the morning and pick it up after 10 minutes if she hasn't eaten it.  Then again in the evening when we have eaten.  There may be something in the attention seeking theory - she often ignores her food and when I go and stand near her she will eat.  This is most odd as she used to wait for me to go away before starting.  She was a food guarder and I spent some time with her trying to feed her by hand, adding to her bowl etc.  I just got to a point when I  had to respect her space and leave her eat otherwise she would stand there for ages waiting for me to go.   Now she wants me there - funny dog. 

Re Burns being bland and tasteless my dogs will eat it as treats and go nuts for it, I often get the small sample bags to use as treats as they like them so much   I've found friends' dogs also find the kibble very interesting too.  My dogs do get meat treats (often raw or dried) so it isn't as if they don't know any different either.

ceejay,
I wonder if the answer to your question is in the question itself?   You say she looked as if she'd put on weight when she came back from the kennels?  Maybe she has and she simply isn't hungry as she doesn't need the food?    One of mine does this, if she puts on weight (eg. during a season while she's on restricted exercise) she goes 'off her food' or picky, until her weight is normal again :)

I don't buy into the theory that dogs think kibble is boring. Humans may think it is boring, that doesn't mean dogs do. 

I can't imagine they were putting extra morsels in her bowl in kennels to get her to eat. And she ate well there you say. 

Adding extras to a dog's dinner can create a fussy dog.

I agree with Tohme, I have 2 feeding times in our house, morning and evening, if they don't eat; they go without until the next feeding time where they get less.  Needless to say it's very rare that my 2 ever refuse their grub.  A fast won't do a dog any harm anyhow, in fact, it's rather good for them IMO. 

>But it is supposed to be a balanced diet so if I give her anything else it is upsetting that.

Adding a couple tablespoons of something else isnt going to unbalance anything.I'll leave my thoughts on balanced and unbalanced out of this one,other than it was the pet food manufactures who started the "dont add anything to our food" thing...

>I don't buy into the theory that dogs think kibble is boring.

Why not? Dont you think they deserve and need the same variety as humans do? There is NO question in my mind that dogs fed nothing but dry food for each and every meal,day in day out would get thoroughly bored with it.Just see the difference and excitement when something else is served up,like real food.. Personally i wouldnt want to eat a plate of dry pellets for breakfast,lunch and tea everyday,so i dont see the point of inflicting this kind of regime on to my dogs :( But if it makes you feel better that dogs dont get bored with the same food then go ahead and believe it :)

>Adding extras to a dog's dinner can create a fussy dog.

I add extra's to each of my dogs meals and they arent fussy.Once in a while they'll get a bowl of plain kibble(which they eat with no probs) when i couldnt be bothered adding anything,but thats not often.

I think fussy dogs are created when the dog refuses their food and then the owner adds something tasty or gives them another meal.The dog then expects this,so they'll refuse more and more often because they know something better will eventually come along.
However if they are given the yummy stuff straight off the bat then how can this create a fussy eater? There is a huge difference, in my experience in the two above scenario's.

>>I don't buy into the theory that dogs think kibble is boring.
>Why not? Dont you think they deserve and need the same variety as humans do?

Because dogs are a different species to humans and have different needs. If I was to fall into the anthropomorphistic trap of believing that all species think as humans then I'd wonder why giant pandas eat so much bamboo, or basking sharks eat only plankton when they've got such big mouths that the occasional fish would make a nice change, assuming they'd get bored with it. But no, different species, different requirements.

I can't see how a dog who's keen for every meal time, who is fed on a dry food finds it boring.  Surely if they didn't like it they would pick at is as and when needed in order to stay alive, not eat the whole bowle contents and like it clean :)

Interestingly a dog I bred who comes to stay with me if he is used at stud is raw fed at home.  He was never a greedy dog and always a bit thin when young and since going onto raw and getting older has improved.  The funny thing is when he comes here he leaves his raw food (the girls get it in the end) and will only eat the dry mien get.

Dill - I think your theory is a possibility - she has always put on weight when in kennels - my hubby teases me that I am starving her - well when she was a puppy I did find it difficult to know exactly how much to give - but right now I think what she gets everyday is just about right.  Of course at home she gets a run everyday as well as the free run of the garden - (when she got home from kennels she was so pleased she charged round and round the garden like a mad thing.)  
As for Jan's theory about pandas and whales etc - they are eating what nature has for them.  In feeding dried kibble we are changing what dogs naturally eat - but I take on board what you say - I take the food away if she doesn't eat it and only give her leftovers when they are there  and suitable anyway - which isn't very often.  So I don't pander to her whims. 

>As for Jan's theory about pandas and whales etc - they are eating what nature has for them.

Remember that pandas are actually omnivores, designed to eat meat as well - not just one single type of plant! ;)

Not the only one Brainless, I have a friend who feeds her dog on raw but he thinks dried Chappie is a real treat!

>But if it makes you feel better that dogs don't get bored with the same food then go ahead and believe it.

Doesn't make me feel better at all, my feelings are totally irrelevant; I just don't buy into your theory.  That doesn't make me feel any better or any worse.  And I don't feed dry kibble.  ;-)

Of course, dogs that have been introduced to other foods that may have a higher status in the dogs mind may hold out for a tasty bit of something or other, or even something new if it's on the menu, other than their usual food.  My dogs would quite happily live on liver cake but I know that won't sustain them for long.

A dog that is not particularly food orientated, yes, there are some of them around, may have a tendency to become a fussy eater when fussed and pambered too at mealtimes. 

Boredom around food is a human emotion and possibly created as a result of so much choice in the western world.  We shouldn't live to eat - we eat to live.  At the time of the war when food was rationed, I doubt there was boredom of food.

Oh I think wartime fare was pretty boring unless you were lucky enough to live in the countyside and get your diet supplemented with fresh produce from your own garden.  You have to eat when you are hungry but you can still wish for something else!!  

Talking of getting bored of foods...I haven't yet got bored of Pasta and I've just finished my first year of uni!  Really I still like Pasta, been my diet along with chicken or mince!

If I'm not bored why would dogs be?

The war is not a good example as people were used to different foods and probably did get fed up eating the same thing.  Still, in third world countries for example, where food is not plentiful and people haven't experienced the same choices that we do, I can't imagine boredom with certain foods are an issue.  To have boredom, one must have choice.

However, humans can have cravings for certain foods, even junk food.

I practically live on cereal, especially all bran, no milk, just dry out of the packet.  Love it and definately don't find it boring although some peeps have asked, how can you eat that without milk? :-D

How can you eat that stuff at all even WITH milk!!! :D :P

Simple - open mouth, put in, close mouth, chomp, swallow, then go for the next bit, lol  :-D :-D :-P

>I don't buy into the theory that dogs think kibble is boring.

>Why not? Dont you think they deserve and need the same variety as humans do?

Ktee, I'm curious, would these be the same humans who live on junk food or takeaways?  because the ones I know who do rarely order anything different, it's always the same meal, they don't like change 

If humans in general had a varied diet our government wouldnt be spending money on encouraging us all to eat "five a day" :) :)

We get takeaway once a week,for a while there we got pizza everytime.I got so sick of it,now i cant even stomach the thought of pizza.

>If humans in general had a varied diet our government wouldnt be spending money on encouraging us all to eat "five a day"

Just because we dont eat the five a day,doesnt make it ok,and doesnt change the fact that we should incorporate them in our daily diets.This is what we are told we need to stay relatively healthy,and if people dont want to then thats their problem,our dogs dont have that choice.I have no qualms in admitting my dogs probably eat healthier than i do,i think,because their health and happiness rests squarely on my shoulders,and i am 100% responsible for their health and wellbeing.

Eating a variety of different foods with differing nutrient levels is a healthy strategy for us,same goes for our pets :)

>I haven't yet got bored of Pasta and I've just finished my first year of uni!

Do you eat your pasta in dry pellet form? Do you have a bowl for breakfast,lunch and dinner with no other differing foods inbetween? Cooking your pasta and adding different sauces and spices is similar to adding toppings to dogs dry food ;)