We have a 2 year old Dalmatian dog who has gradually gone off his food.  He is fed on CSJ, a complete food, with a little water and he has been on this since a pup.  It started about 4 weeks ago with just his morning feed with which he would leave it when instructed to eat.  He would eat a very small amount or none at all and then leave the kitchen.  He would eventually eat it all but after returning to it up to 2 hours later.  He was fine with his evening meal, which he was eating all in one sitting.
At the same time he got a rash on his inside back leg, which we took him to the vets for and was prescribed antibiotics for 2 weeks, which cleared it up.  Naturally, we though this feeding problem was linked to him feeling under the weather.  We still mentioned it to the vets and she did an external stomach check to which all appeared fine.  She also mentioned that she thought it is a habit problem as he was eating his evening meal fine. 
The problem is he has now started to leave his evening meal as well, although not as consistently as his breakfast.  This morning his breakfast was left for 3.5 hours until I returned home and he eventually ate it after 2 visits.  He eats it after a little persuasion but we are trying not to create a bigger problem by making a fuss over his bowl.  Nothing major has changed in his environment, I am working a little more hours but he is never left for more than 4 hours at a time and he gets regular walks once/twice a day for at least 1 hour.  Can dogs go off their food?!  Please help!

Could just be that he's fully grown now and just doesn't need as much. I always cut my dogs' food down in warmer weather too :)
Daisy

Try removing his food after 15 minutes. It could be that he just doesn't want to eat as much (one of mine used to be very picky about his breakfast) and is doing what his stomach tells him! He won't starve if he only has an evening meal. :)

Thanks for your replies.  I always thought a fit adult dog should be kept on two meals a day though?  We have cut his breakfast down but sometimes he doesn't even sniff at it and just leaves as soon as he's been given the command to eat.  I also thought Dalmatians eat EVERYTHING you offer them - ours certainly used to!

My previously picky one only started eating his breakfast with any enjoyment after he went onto a prescription diet after his urate stone blockage. It seems to me that he knew the food he was being given wasn't right for him! A much lower level of protein, and he scoffs it.

If you can get him to eat two small meals a day it's good, because it helps avoid bloat, but in the past dogs were only fed once a day after they were a year old, and came to no harm. Two meals a day in adulthood only became common in the past 20 years or so.

Taking the food up after 15 minutes and not giving him anything else to eat till his tea might well break this habit and sharpen his interest in his food again. :)

Thanks JG.  We have already cut out all treats during the day already, which only amounted to maybe one/two chew sticks and a few bite size treats on his walk for obedience.  So will start lifting as well if no interest, hopefully this will remind him that he has a stomach!

>We have a 2 year old Dalmatian dog 

> He is fed on CSJ

>he has been on this since a pup.

Here are my first thoughts ;) He's 2 years old and has been on nothing but this food since a pup?? Could it be that he is stone cold bored? People may tell you that dogs dont get bored with having to eat the same food for breakfast,lunch and dinner(perhaps to ease their concience),but in my experience  this is not true,they get just as bored and unexcited as we would if we were forced to eat nothing but the same food for every meal.

Also just a little thought on csj :( could it be your dog is craving meat?Perhaps a change to a meat based food,instead of one loaded with cereals  may be in order.... Which formula is he on?

My dog did this.  She started leaving her breakfast and then just picked at it during the day.  She was an adolescent when she started doing this.  In the end I couldn't see the point in trying to make her eat when she didn't want to and stopped giving her breakfast.  Recently though she started begging for food in the morning so I cut down her evening meal and started giving her breakfast again. 

Hi, just wanted to add a quick word of thanks first to those of you who replied to my previous post (Dalmatian off food V. unusual). We started picking up any uneaten food after 15mins and also reduced his evening meal down, which in two days resulted in him eating his breakfast in one sitting again - yippee!!

Ktee with regards to your previous question - He's on CSJ Herbie Nuts and has been since a pup.  Our breeder recommended it as it has a low protein content (I know there are myths as to whether a high protein diet actually causes stones in Dals, but I'd rather not run the risk!)
He has the occasional cooked chicken leftovers or salmon pieces but nothing on a regular basis.  What type of things would be good to add to his diet rather than changing it completely?  I've been warned that changing a dog's diet around too much can result it in him becoming a picky eater?

Thanks guys.

In regards to the stone forming I don't think it is a myth and Jeangenie knows alot about it.

Have a look here:
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=790425;hl=stones;hlm=and#pid790425

and here:
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=757414;hl=stones;hlm=and#pid757414

The foods you should give are low in purine.
HTH

What lots of people don't realise is that all pure-bred dalmatians have a metabolic defect can lead to their forming urinary stones. They not only look unique among dog breeds, their dietary requirements are different too, and what might be right for every other breed in the world isn't right for dalmatians - they are truly a special case! So if anyone encourages you to feed high-protein to dals - especially proteins high in purines, such as red meat, offal, oily fish - walk away because it's likely to do a lot of damage.

Your best bet is to read all the links from this page, because it's been compliled by people who really know what they're talking about, and not just generalising. :)