[jaimebpa1]

I'm dealing with the exact same thing with Olive and I'm finally at the point that I will out stubborn her! She came home from the breeder on Oven baked tradition, but didn't like this at all. I started mixing in Acana in with it and she picked the Acana out. So I just started giving her the Acana. Well that food is very high in protein and fat and it gave her colitis. She was having pure mucous stools (so gross!). I put her back on Oven Baked Tradition, but she would barely eat it. Sometimes I'd mix wet food with it and she'd eat it for a few days, but then she'd stop eating it that way too. I bought her a bag of Blue Buffalo and she wouldn't eat that at all. PetSmart took that back thankfully. A few weeks ago I bought her a bag of Simply Nourish and she ate it for 2 days and then stopped. I haven't bought any new foods as it's obvious she is really picky and it would just be a waste of money! For the last 3 days I have decided that I've had enough and I'm being really strict about food. She is getting no treats. Not even for training. I put her food down at 7am, 12, and 5 pm. I leave it down for 20 minutes. I make sure there are no distractions during this time. If she eats great. If not i pick it up and she gets nothing until i put the food down again. The last 2 days she didn't eat even 1 bite of food. I could feel myself getting anxious about it, but i stuck it out and today she didn't eat breakfast or lunch, but she ate half of her dinner. So really that isn't much for the day, but i'm hoping if i keep this up she'll realize there are no other options for food. It's hard when she refuses to eat because she ends up obsessing over food! I have to put her in her crate when the kids eat now because she stalks them. She'll also get in to any garbage she can. I hate seeing her so hungry that she'll eat garbage, but really that just proves she is being stubborn.

 

[jaimebpa1]

Ideally I would like for her to really enjoy her food, but I don't want to do a raw food diet and honestly i think she'd end up turning her nose to that eventually too. I've given her wet food and she only eats it for a few days. I'm pretty sure i've unintentionally trained her that if she doesn't eat her food she'll get something different or better.

 

[jaimebpa1]

The only place near me that i have found a prepared raw food, which is the only way I'd do raw is a very fancy, snobby pet store and it is WAY out of my budget. I also have only been able to find one person who feeds raw. Everyone else looks at me like I am crazy when I bring it up! I don't think it has caught on in my area yet. It's definitely not readily available and very expensive. That's why i'm pushing kibble. I also don't want to do just canned food because that would be expensive and my vet is very against that because of the teeth issue. I know Amanda on here feeds a fresh food that is sold at petsmart so that couldbe an option. When I went to my petsmart they were sold out of it for 5 weeks straight though so not an option for us if they can't keep it in stock. I think some of us have to push kibble. And really they are dogs. We are the pack leaders and we decide what and when they eat. I appreciate wanting to feed your dog the best and wanting them to enjoy their food, but it has to work for the human as well. If it was within my budget I'd probably try the prepared raw food.

An update on my feeding issue. today was day 4 of me putting the kibble down for 20 minutes and then picking it up. She ate half of her breakfast instantly this morning. If I didn't know any better I'd say she enjoyed it too. Maybe she didn't, but it gave her the nutrition she needs and because she was a good girl and ate her kibble she got a delicious chicken chew as a treat when I left this morning!