Good Food

[Kebasmom]

I was having serious trouble getting my 13 month old to eat his food. He's a little on the lean side. I changed his food just a bit by adding some of the Merricks wet Smothered Comfort. WoW!! He scarfed that stuff down. I think I've found a winning combination. He used to take quite a while to eat. Eat some, run around, pick on the food some more, run around….:p

[tanza]

Young dogs will go through eating "spurts"… and then there is another reason for them to be eating in crates, they can't run around... it is eat or don't eat... Think of it this way, do you let children eat some, run around, eat some, run around?

[JazzysMom]

tee hee, Keoki doesn't have that problem. It pretty much doesn't matter what we put in front of him, he'll eat it. LOL And no running off until the bowl has been licked clean, veeeeerrrryyy clean.

[Kebasmom]

Excellent point about eating in the crate. I'll try that. He's not too keen on getting in there though. The little one eats in her crate. Maybe if I put him in his crate with food he won't freak. Thanks for the info.

[tanza]

You need to be consistent…. either he eats or he doesn't... the more you baby them the worst you make their eating habits.... They will NOT starve themselves (unless they are sick)... they will eat when they are hungry

[Chelbell26]

Hi all,
When you mention feeding the dogs in their crates…are you locking them in there? We have taken the advice of feeding him in his crate for 15 minutes (but we leave the door open) so he can come out to his water bowl (& he usually leaves before 15 minutes are up & then he goes back for more....but I always take the food away after 15 minutes). Should we be closing the crate door while he eats? I worry that he'd freak out & jump around (spilling his food) and not eating as much).... what do the wise-ones have to say about this?

Thanks!

[tanza]

@Chelbell26:

Hi all,
When you mention feeding the dogs in their crates…are you locking them in there? We have taken the advice of feeding him in his carte (but we leave the door open) so he can come out to his water bowl. Should be closing the crate door while he eats? I wonder what the wise-ones have to say about this?

Thanks!

Mine are closed and locked in their crates…. he can drink after eating or put the water in with him too. Of course since I have multi Basenjis, I have to closed and lock the crates... if you only have the one.. not a big a deal, but if you are thinking of getting another one, then would be good for him to already be used to it.

[Quercus]

I agree with Pat. The goal would be to be able to close the crate while they eat…but it isn't really a necessity. One of the main ideas of having the dog eat in the crate, is so the dog builds a good association with his crate.

[Chelbell26]

thanks for the replies!

[Ninabeana26]

I leave Dallas' open only because if I close it he won't eat because he's too focused on being good so we will let him out of the crate [sitting pretty & quite against the one wall]. If I leave it open he eats everything then goes back to running around. He was nibbling, running around, nibbling, etc like you described but once I switched his food to blue buffalo, he stopped doing that & now eats everything before walking away.

However, when we get our second [maybe in Jan :)] we will probably end up shutting the crate to avoid food problems between the two.

[Robin_n_Jack]

@Kebasmom:

I was having serious trouble getting my 13 month old to eat his food. He's a little on the lean side. I changed his food just a bit by adding some of the Merricks wet Smothered Comfort. WoW!! He scarfed that stuff down. I think I've found a winning combination. He used to take quite a while to eat. Eat some, run around, pick on the food some more, run around….:p

I was having the same problem with Jack recently…he's 2...he wouldn't eat, I called it his anorexic phase. He would eat acouple of bites in the morning, ad about half of his food in the afternoon. There has been a lot of excitement around lately (Dad's home, and we are packing to move) so I thought that might have something to do with it, and I figured he would eat when he was hungry. He hasn't been acting lethargic or sick, just not eating.

Finally, after trying everything I could think of, treats in with the food (worked for a little while) pretending to eat it my self and trying to hand feed him(he looked at me like "If you think it is so good, why don't you eat it?) this morning I mixed some water in with the food. Next thing I know, it was all gone. Yay! no more Ally McBeal doggie!

[Chelbell26]

@Robin_n_Jack:

I was having the same problem with Jack recently…he's 2...he wouldn't eat, I called it his anorexic phase. He would eat acouple of bites in the morning, ad about half of his food in the afternoon. There has been a lot of excitement around lately (Dad's home, and we are packing to move) so I thought that might have something to do with it, and I figured he would eat when he was hungry. He hasn't been acting lethargic or sick, just not eating.

Finally, after trying everything I could think of, treats in with the food (worked for a little while) pretending to eat it my self and trying to hand feed him(he looked at me like "If you think it is so good, why don't you eat it?) this morning I mixed some water in with the food. Next thing I know, it was all gone. Yay! no more Ally McBeal doggie!

Glad to hear that he is eating again. I think we all know what its like to worry that your B isn't eating enough. :rolleyes: