Hi All,

We have a twelve week old wheaten terrier puppy who seems to be permanently starving (or just greedy). He is on four meals a day, and is fed on Burns Mini-Bites, but whenever food is put in front of him you would think that he hasn't been fed for a month. There is no thought of chewing or breathing - in fact, I have taken to putting his food down in small doses so that he has to pause for a few seconds every so often. We have to take him out of the room when our other dog is fed, as he desperately tries to eat her food, and howls and screams and scratches the door to get back. He then spends about twenty minutes licking all the food bowls for any crumbs.

My worry is that, as he is so food fixated, he also tries to eat anything else that he finds. We are teaching him "leave" as a priority, but I am really worried that he will eat something on a walk without us noticing that could do him serious harm. 

I wondered if there was anything that we could give him that would bulk out his dry food without doing him any harm or detracting from the quality of his diet. I do think part of the problem is that Burns is so good quality that he only actually gets a very small quantity of food at each meal. I'm also planning to reduce his meals from four to three a day, which will increase the size of each meal and hopefully leave him feeling more satisfied.

On the upside, being so food motivated he will do anything for a treat so training is a breeze!

He has been wormed regularly, and so we are pretty confident that that isn't the cause.

A number of posters that used Burns found that their dogs seemed either very hungry or got thin on it, maybe it is the case with your pup?

My Lexi now 5 as a pup seemed unsatisfied with her portions and I did cut her number of meals down quite early from four (by 10 weeks) and to two by four months as she seemed to be happier with larger but fewer meals.  She has never been fat and likes but isn't food obsessed.

I feed mine Arden Grange for preference and have found they seem to keep satisfied on it even though they don't get anywhere near the amounts on the bag being good doers as a breed.

You could add raw carrots a little apple, Marrow etc to his food, but I woudl try to fidn a food that left him more satisfied.

I am of course assuming the 'output' is firm, and that he is absorbing the nutrients in the food, adn that his bodyweight is good.

Thanks for that. His "output" is fine, if a little looser than I would like. Not worryingly so though.

His body weight is slightly low, even though we give him the top end of the range stated on the bag for his weight. The vet "joked" that it wasn't bad enough to call the RSPCA, but that he was a bit more "ribby" than she would have liked.

I realy struggled to keep weight on my boxer when feeding Burns,it didn't matter how much I fed him.I changed food eventualy as he was begining to look half starved,very ribby indeed.After changing food he was back to normal  very quickly :)

Hi Mark,

To firm my girl up a bit I added some really over cooked brown rice. She is really quite fussy so I didn't keep her on the rice (would prefer she had more complete) but it really firmed her up and she has been great since. If your boy is a bit ribby then maybe increase his food or try a different brand. It doesn't sound as though this food is getting the right amount of condition in him. I used to use AG before my girl decided she didn't like it anymore and now use CSJ which she loves. Have had good results on both.

I always cook loads of veggies with our meals and the girls get as much as they can eat It bulks up the feeds but is not fattenig. They get raw meat, tripe lamb, chicken etc.. most of the time anyway with just a little Royal Canin, but they do like their veggies cooked.Two or three meals slightly larger may help too, I always think if they feel full after a meal they will wait longer for the next one. Most dogs are eager to eat anything thats not their Normal diet though, many a fussy dog will turn it's nose up at a bowl of dog food but scoff anything else so the greedy bit could apply to lots of dogs !!
The sofa dog (See other post) thats here for a couple of days is a terrible theif and being used to my lot who would never steal a thing I forget what she's like and have had a few run ins with her when she stays on her Hol's!!! She gets Burns Potato and pork so maybe it's a Burns thing? She can spend hours washing out dog bowls...no DNA left on them!! LOL

Mine was prob 9 months or so before he slowed down - but as you say, it helps enormously with training doesn't it, if you can avoid the sharks teeth!! :)

It's obviously worth teaching firm and clear food manners such as bowl down if bum down; don't start til you say; allowing you to put a hand in the bowl (not for the hell of it obviously - but to alow you to add some more food!); and taking treats gently.

Other good ideas are to remain in the room whilst both dogs are eating so you can help protect your other dog's food.  I used to do this with aid of an open crate or cupboard door.  You could also feed in the crate if you think it might help.  Also teach 'leave' - absolutely vital with greedy dogs who stick any old rubbish in their mouths almost without looking.  We found this invaluable with poo eating (yuk) and the odd dropped food item.  I won't let either of mine eat any dropped food as it's sometimes hot but if it's ok I'll pick it up and sling it in a bowl for them.  Finally (---what really - you're about to stop? ---) never leave the empty bowl down - as soon as the dog has finished, touch their shoulder say 'all finished' (or something) and pick the bowl up.  Endless bowl bashing and slurping can be a nuisance :)

The greedy puppy stage does wear off - eventually.  Good luck.

I meant to say, with the weight issue just make sure you are weighing the dog and adjusting the food regularly, whatever you feed him.  I was probably adjusting weekly if not daily at this age...

I too had a puppy who sounds like the twin of yours!  She was also fed Burns.  I switched her onto Arden Grange about a month ago and she has put on weight and muscle and seems much more toned.  She also seems less obsessed with finding every crumb!

Thanks everyone.

We are very strict that he doesn't get fed until bum has been on floor and he has been silent for 10 seconds, but he's almost vibrating by the time his bowl hits the floor. I do sometimes feed the dogs together and "guard" the older dog's food, but I think people walking past in the street must thing I'm torturing the poor puppy as he screams so much. Interestingly, though he is so food focussed, he isn't at all food possessive with people and is very happy for him and his food to be handled, and even taken away for a few seconds. I have no idea about how food possessive he will be with other dogs, as our girl just watches him in disgust and won't go near.

We are adjusting his food every few days, but a lot of this is guess work as he only gets weighed every couple of weeks at the vet.

It sounds from this and other threads that Arden Grange is the way forward. I will also try it with our older dog, who is on Nutro but spends so long inspecting her food before she'll eat anything that I think she thinks we're trying to poison her!

I had the same problem as you when I fed Burns puppy food to my last pups.  This time I have brought them up on James Wellbeloved Turkey bites and they are all much more muscular and 'covered' but not fat.  I took my older dogs off Burns as they lost so much condition, no muscle, and were like toast-racks :(  They are on CSJ and within weeks looked a million dollars.   My 6 month old is now on CSJ herbie rings and is fantastically muscled, not starving and 'output' is firm ;)

Don't forget tho that pups will scoff their food as if they are starving ;)  I have bought a large treat ball from Tescos to give some meals in as it takes longer to roll the ball around and get the food out ;) 

I always check condition and output, if condition is poor and output not firm, then IMO the food doesn't suit ;)  I wouldn't want to see a pup positively boney, there should be some covering and muscle in a terrier ;)

I'm having the same problem with my working cocker pup.  He's on the minibites and screams the place down when he sees me getting his food ready.  I've been putting the food in a Kong Stuffaball so that it takes him longer to eat it, otherwise it's gone in seconds and he gives himself the hiccups.  His breeder lives in our village and has kept two other pups from the litter who are not being fed on Burns and they look much less thin.  I think we are going to have to change his food as he's going to be a working dog and we will really struggle to keep weight on him, even with Burns Active.   it's a shame because we feed our older cocker on Burns (she isn't worked, though) and I like the content of the food.   I've been hearing good things about CSJ and might give that a try instead.