I have a 6 month old border collie who has recently (over last couple weeks) begun to not eat her food. We feed her at the same time as our other dogs, she just looks at her food then walks away and sits by the door.
We have tried feeding her from a different bowl, which she ate from once then stopped again. I tried softening it with warm water but she wasn't interested in that. She will eat other food (not dog food, in that respect she loves eating) but I'm not going down that path or she will never learn she doesn't get our left overs or treats. If I add chicken to her meal she eats it but we feed her puppy complete and adding other food to it defeats the purpose of it being a complete food.
I read once that if the dog does not eat after 20 mins you should remove the food until the next meal time. Would you reccomend I do this and for how long ?

Thanks for any advice

She could be coming up to her season.  Mine stops eating around her season.  You could try adding a little marmite gravy warm to her meal, might just tempt her. 

I do take mine up if it is not eaten and try her again just before bedtime, sometimes she will eat a bit then.

Hi rach3468

This is something lots of young dogs go through.  Yes put the food down, give the pup 10 minutes then pick up until the next mealtime.  To be honest this is something that you should do indefinitely if your dog remains fussy.  Do not add anything to her food, just give her her usual food. Quite a few owners at this point will start swapping to a different food which the dog will eat for a couple of weeks then start refusing it again, the owner then changes to another food and the same thing happens again.  If you leave the food down the pup will pick at it occasionally when she gets hungry but she will learn that it is always available and there is no need to eat it all in one go.

I found one of my girls really difficult as a puppy, right from the day I had her really.  I found she was more likely to eat her food if she worked for it so this is something you could consider if you worry that your girl is not eating anything.  Try taking her food on her walk or using it in the garden or house for training.  It doesn't matter what you do with her, it can be tricks even, just reward her with her food.  This worked for my girl to a certain extent, not to say it will definitely work for your of course!  It does mean that they get to eat something if they are still refusing their food in their bowl.

You could also try scatter feeding a handful at a time, just throw a small handful into the garden and let her search for it if she is interested.  It can make it more interesting for her to eat this way. 

You may have more success with the working for food and scatter feeding once she has had a couple of days of not eating very much. Don't try it on the first day when she won't be particularly hungry.  The other thing that made a difference to my girl was walking her first, she would rarely eat first thing in the morning but once she had used some energy she was a little more hungry and I had more success.  Dont feed her immediately on return from a walk tho, let her settle for at least half hour first.

Let us know how you get on.

Yes Sandrah it could be season related, good point.  However, I'd suggest that maybe you still don't allow her get into the habit of waiting for something nice to be added before she will eat.

Thanks for the advice. I agree with not food swapping route, I have found in the past it makes them fussier. I will persevere !! The little madam
Thanks again

My 17 month old girlie went through these phases, however my boys will eat anything and everything. They don't turn their nose up at anything. I fell into the trap of changing her food as I was worried about her and even took her to the vet several times to be checked out just to make sure that she was not ailing for something. Each time being told she was ok and was just being fussy. So it was just a matter of being a bit more tough, not showing I was concerned when she hadn't eaten and picking her bowl up if she walked away from it and letting her see me throw her food out and not giving her any treats or titbits in between her meals. It killed me to do it, but I had to do it in her best interest and it did work after a few days. She does try to lapse back to being fussy now and again, normally around the time of her seasons or when her season has just finished, but its just a matter of persevering, but it's so painful to watch them walk away from their food and worry they could be hungry. Funny you called her a "little madam" as I have never had a fussy dog in my males. She is the first female I have owned and she is the only one that has tried to be fussy. lol....I think it will be battle of the wills with your female as well Rach. I hope she doesn't hold out too long with being fussy for you.

At this age the fast pace of growth has slowed and I have found pups can be less hungry and start picking and then we start worrying and then they pick up on it and do it all the more and so it goes.

|I would give a little less food and cut her to two meals a day, that is assuming she is otherwise well.