How do I get my dog to eat dog food instead of human food? read on...?

Question

I got her yesterday from someone who didn't want her anymore but she was fed human food only. I have a yorkie and we've always fed him dog dry food.
I don't know how to cook, and I BARELY do if for us humans. I do not want to have to sit around to cook for a dog.

how can i make her eat?

if i just leave dry food bowl down for ever, would she stgart eatting eventully if she get hungry? or will she starve to death?

please give me some advice on this

thanks

SHE'S ONLY 2 YEARS OLD.

IS IT TOO LATE? IS SHE SOO USED TO HUMAN FOOD?

Answer 1

the Best way to solve your problem is start bye not giving the dog human food,give your new dog reg dog food only. A dog will not starve it's self if food is available after a short time they will start eating the dog food, Last step is praise you new dog when they do start eating the food but do not give in to them cause one slip up and all the work is useless say firm and you will have a happy dog sooner then you think

Answer 2

I agree with everyone else that says NO MORE PEOPLE FOOD!!!
For the first few mealtimes, try serving the dry food mixed with a tasty canned food...the Mighty Dog canned stuff is pretty cool; my puppy goes crazy for the turkey dinner one; it's chunks of meat in a gravy, so I think it would mix into the dry food well, and it might confuse your dog into thinking it's people food. It's inexpensive, too.. I think 50 cents a can?
If that doesn't seem to work, try sitting at the table with a bowl of dog food (NOT during a meal though) and when she begs, give her a few pieces of dog food. Then get up and put the bowl on the floor like you're done eating and see if she finishes it. Not the greatest approach b/c it encourages the begging but it's a start.
Then, during people meals, keep her gated into a different room, or behind a closed door where she can't see you...just make sure you praise her and give her toys when you do this so she doesn't see it as a punishment, then as soon as you're done bring her back with the family. This is what we do with our puppy, who was taught by my in-laws' maltese that it's ok to beg... now when we put plates on the table she automatically goes into the kitchen with her favorite toy so we can close the baby gate. She sits and watches us but doesn't whine or bark because she knows we'll play with her when we're done.
She will eventually eat if there's food there for her; set a routine if possible but if your schedule doesn't allow it, it won't kill her to have food available all the time... praise her when she eats her dog food...time and patience will do the trick! Praise and encourage positive steps, even if it's a little step. Dogs love praise!
Best of luck to you, I know you can do it!! :-)

Answer 3

Feed two meals daily. Mealtime will be more exciting if it isn't just there all the time. Put her food down for 10-15 minutes in the morning, if she eats great, if she doesn't, pick it up and put it away. In the evening, give her her food for 10 - 15 minutes again. Be consistant with this and do not give her any people food or treats. Encourage her to come to her dish, and praise her if she takes a bite. She will not starve to death, she might not eat for a couple of days, and it will be hard for you. But she will eat and be healthier for not getting all the people food.

Answer 4

I recently had to babysit by gf dog while she was recooping from surgery. We had to keep him several weeks. She fed him a mix of dry dog food and wet dog food, but mostly cooked for him. We mixed the dry dog food with a little gravy and gave him his portion of wet dog food. He didn't eat well for a few days, but he came around when he was hungry enough. Just don't give in and feed him any human food. He will come around.

Answer 5

Put the dog food down for her and leave it. If you don't cave in and give her human food, she will eat. No dog is going to starve themselves to death. She'll be much healthier if you don't feed her human food. Years ago, people who bought a puppy from me called after having her about 2 weeks saying she wouldn't eat. I asked why not as she'd been eating for a few weeks before they got her and had no problem. Well, turned out they were feeding her cheese, and steak and bologna and I don't know what else. I told them to stop and she'd eat her dog food just fine - I've rarely seen a puppy train her humans so quickly!

Answer 6

Here is what you do. Follow this exactly. Very simple procedure. -Put DOG FOOD & dog food only in the bowl. -Leave it down, do not push it towards the dog, just leave it. -Leave it there for 20 minutes or so. -If he doesn't eat it in the 20 minutes, take it away. -Repeat the process the next feeding time. -Repeat until the dog eats. The dog will not starve itself if it is healthy. It also will not eat dog food if you keep offering human food.

Answer 7

I would try a rewards system. Give her dry dog food from your hand and if she even sniffs it, reward her. Do this several times then try to get her to actually eat a piece of the dog food. Hopefully she will, because she will realize that she is getting rewarded for eating the dog food. I am not saying this will be an easy road, you will have to have patience with her but I say she will get the picture and eat dog food.

Answer 8

I think you shoud start feeding her off on human food, and then each day you mix in a little more dog food with the human food until there is no human food for her to eat. But I think you had better go gradually on this so she will keep following along.

Answer 9

A fun way to make her eat her food is to make her work for it, like sit, give her a kibble, down, give her a kibble ect. A kong toy might work too, fill it with kibble and as she rolls it around the food falls out. If that doesn't work I'd mix a small amount of canned food in the dry until she eats it then slowly add less and less canned until she has just dry kibble!

Answer 10

#1. Start her off on WET DOG FOOD. its in a can like green beans. she will like that a little bit better than starting her off on just dry food.
#2. Each DAY add VERY LITTLE small sized kibble to the food bowl.
#3. After weening her off the MOSTLY wet food, TRY one time a little bit of dry food.
#4. if she eats it, TRY it again the next day. and the next and the next....

If the first didn't work, do steps one through three and THEN!!!!!

#4. go to the store and buy more WET DOG FOOD. again, It is in a can like green beans. (hehehehe)
#5. Mix it in with dry food. each WEEK use a little bit less wet food.
#6. eventually, she will be ok with dry food.
********BUT make sure the food you start her out on has samll chunks, not big ones, that way she won't hurt her mouth.********