I'm getting tired of my dog being this choosy about his food. Putting his food down twice a day for 15 mins doesn't work, he'll go for several days without eating anything and with a mom in the house who nags at me like I'm the worst animal abuser in the world when I say he'll eat when he gets hungry, well he just has to eat at least once a day or I will go officially insane... But without me, or someone else doing what I do, being around he won't even look at his food bowl much less take a bite. So far if I want him to eat I have to either:
a) toss one kibble at a time on the floor and let him chase and eat it
b) load up a treat ball and spend the next hour or two enticing him to roll and eat whatever comes out of it
c) use a laser beam and point it in the food bowl. This is the fastest way to make him eat all his food. I don't move the beam out of his food bowl before he has emptied the bowl, after which I let him chase the beam for a minute or a quick game of tug as a reward.
I'm feeding him Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken. This problem has been going on ever since his deworming at 11 weeks, he is now nearly 10 months.
I know changing foods often if the dog won't eat will make him more choosy, so I tried to avoid that. He started on Royal Canin at the breeders, switched to Orijen at 16 weeks which he wouldn't eat much at all, went back to Royal Canin again and about two months ago started on Eagle Pack. I moisten up his food by either just hot water or add some broth of different kinds. I tried adding different types of canned food but that resulted in him completely refusing to eat.
He has a quite ideal weight for a cavalier his size. He goes on 30 min walks twice a day, he gets to run on a long-line an additional 15 minutes a day, as well as all the potty breaks and training sessions throughout the day. Does this sound like enough exercise or should I increase it further? He is pretty tired in between all this so he takes a lot of naps during the day. Should I start changing foods to see if there are other brands he would enjoy eating more? Or can I possibly clicker-train him to eat? That probably sounds like a weird question but I've heard some people say you can clicker-train a dog to do almost anything... and I would love it if he would just eat his food like every other dog I know does. Any advice for me?
a) toss one kibble at a time on the floor and let him chase and eat it
b) load up a treat ball and spend the next hour or two enticing him to roll and eat whatever comes out of it
c) use a laser beam and point it in the food bowl. This is the fastest way to make him eat all his food. I don't move the beam out of his food bowl before he has emptied the bowl, after which I let him chase the beam for a minute or a quick game of tug as a reward.
I'm feeding him Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken. This problem has been going on ever since his deworming at 11 weeks, he is now nearly 10 months.
I know changing foods often if the dog won't eat will make him more choosy, so I tried to avoid that. He started on Royal Canin at the breeders, switched to Orijen at 16 weeks which he wouldn't eat much at all, went back to Royal Canin again and about two months ago started on Eagle Pack. I moisten up his food by either just hot water or add some broth of different kinds. I tried adding different types of canned food but that resulted in him completely refusing to eat.
He has a quite ideal weight for a cavalier his size. He goes on 30 min walks twice a day, he gets to run on a long-line an additional 15 minutes a day, as well as all the potty breaks and training sessions throughout the day. Does this sound like enough exercise or should I increase it further? He is pretty tired in between all this so he takes a lot of naps during the day. Should I start changing foods to see if there are other brands he would enjoy eating more? Or can I possibly clicker-train him to eat? That probably sounds like a weird question but I've heard some people say you can clicker-train a dog to do almost anything... and I would love it if he would just eat his food like every other dog I know does. Any advice for me?