My toy poodle won't eat dog food, what can I do?

Question

My toy poodle won;t eat dog food his diet consists of 1 apple a day, treats, corn, carrots, cherrios and that is all he will eat. I am worried that he is not getting all the nutrition he needs or is he?

Answer 1

I hate to put it this way, but your dog is spoiled. Remove the things listed from his diet and make the only food option available to him dog food. It sounds kind of mean to put it this way, but once he is hungry enough and realizes that he is no longer getting any of his favorites, he will eat the dog food. You essentially need to re-train your dog to eat dog food again.

Answer 2

He/she certainly has you trained. Out wait the poodle. Put the dog food down and walk away. Ignore pleas for other food. After an hour remove the food and that's it for that day. Keep doing that every day. Trust me...when that poodle gets hungry enough, the dog food will be eaten. You can win this battle...just don't give in even if it takes 4 or 5 days. Provide water at all times. No treats at all until the dog food is eaten.

Answer 3

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/epOKw

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 4

The best way to adjust a dog's diet is slowly. You can't take him straight off the human food right away, or he can develop digestive problems. Try mixing the food you currently give him with dog food (wet food might be best to start because it will be harder for him to pick and choose.) Start slowly, a quarter of his meal should be dog food, the rest human food. After about a week, switch it half and half. The next week, three quarters dog food, one quarter human food. By the next week, he should be eating all dog food.

If you don't want him eating wet dog food, you can still switch him from human food to wet dog food. Then, once he's gotten used to wet dog food, you can use the same method to transfer him to human food.

If worse comes to worst and he won't accept the transition, you can do the never fail method: refuse to give him any food other than dog food. Make him quit the human food cold turkey. It's not as healthy for him, but it will work. To make it easier on him (and to reward him for eating dog food), you can give him a small treat every time he eats a full meal of dog food. Slowly phase out the treat until eating dog food becomes commonplace for him.

Answer 5

If your toy refuses dry dog foods even after having tried such ones as Beneful (I highly recommend the Salmon...my Jack Russell is an extremely finicky eater and would touch absolutely no dry dog food at all. This one she loves and cleans her bowl every day now), first I recommend seeing your vet. You can further try one of the following which will provide the nutrients necessary. Also, you could try a very small amount of dry food slathered with something he loves. At first he might pick everything out, but eventually he'll grow tired of it and begin to eat everything. Slow and small portioned and he should be on his way eventually.

* Commercially prepared special diets prescribed by your veterinarian.
* Human baby foods (meat varieties).
* Chicken giblets hearts and/or livers sauteed in a little olive oil with a clove or two of garlic. Chop finely.
* Broiled chicken. Shred into tiny pieces.
* Very thinly sliced steak microwaved for 3-4 seconds. Shred into strips.
* Nutri-Cal (high calorie nutrient paste).

Further, use the dry dog food as the "treats" sometimes they will eat foods from your hand that they won't eat from their bowl. If you have tricks that you work him through...try the dog food for the reward and see what happens. It may very well be the way the food is being fed and he's one that needs that bit more attention...or the brand.

Good luck

Answer 6

He needs to eat real dog food. You have been giving him "table" food which will lead to worms and other internal parisites.

If he doesn't like dry dog food, get the small bags or cans of wet dog food and stop feeding him treats and other food because it isn't healthy. Put the food in the bowl and if he doesn't eat it, don't give him anymore food or any different food, when he gets hungry he will eat.

Even if he doesn't eat as long as he's drinking water he will be fine until he learns that he has to eat what you give him

Answer 7

Actually, that diet is very nutritious except for one very, very important thing: Protein.

Will he eat chicken, or turkey, or fish? Possibly add in some of these to make sure he's getting protein, and then you're fine.

If this is a matter of inconvenience and you need to get him to eat dog food because his diet is inconvenient, then you will need to train him to eat dog food. This can be difficult, and you should probably do some book research, or possibly take him to a professional for that.

Answer 8

He's a dog. When he gets hungry, he'll heat his dog food. The "human" food you are giving him cannot be good for his health or digestion. Make sure his water bowl is full all the time, and put only dog food in his food bowl. Do not waver. You have trained him wrong, now you must train him right.

Answer 9

Mix a little dog food in with what he will eat and dont feed him again until he finishes this meal. Gradually use a little more dog food each day,and a little less of what you were feeding it,until your pet is now completely eating just dog food. (You might have to try a few different types of dog food until you find one your dog will like),but the end result will be a healthier pet.

Answer 10

I have owned a dog in the past, and own one now, and I never give mine a whole apple. I may give him bites of one when I eat one, but that is all. My dog is very picky as well when he eats. If I vary it from time to time he gets excited about what he eats. He looooves the new Beneficial moist food now. Kind of expensive, but you can get 2 meals out of one of the "bowls". I find if I mix it up every now and then between the beneficial and Mighty Dog (my dog only eats moist food), then he will be excited about eating. I only feed Peanut (my Shih Tzu) 2 times a day, and only give him treats after we go on our walks. :) Hope this helps!