[AirJordan613]

I recently rescued an 8 year old German Shepherd / Chow Chow mix. She’s doing great except for not wanting to eat her dog food. I purchased the exact same food she was eating regularly at the shelter (chicken soup for the soul adult dry dog food). She begs for human food, though we aren’t giving her anymore - we did the first couple days because we really wanted her to eat but I now realize that was a mistake. This has been going on for about 5 days. She has eaten a few bites a couple times but not a significant volume. I have been offering her food 2-3 times per day for about 25 minutes after which I take away the food. Should I expect her hunger instincts to kick in eventually? The shelter thought she is likely testing us to see if she can get us to feed her tastier human food. Thanks.

 

[AddieCrow]

I would say it's a test lol dogs will not let themselves starve, most likely shes looking for a food topper or something even better then kibble. You can either hold out and keep trying what you have been, add wet food as a topper or even switch flavors of food to see if she finds that more interesting.

 

[Lillith]

Healthy dogs won't starve themselves, and she will eat eventually. Put down her bowl for 15-20 minutes, and if she doesn't eat, pick it up. No more food until the next meal.

 

[NadiaK]

Our dog became a really finicky eater lately. He has been eating kibble since he was born. I started to get worried and went to the pet store and bought some canned food for him. I just reduced his kibble a bit and added a couple tablespoons of the wet. Now when he sees me putting down his food bowl he comes running. And within minutes his bowl is empty. In fact it is so clean that were it not necessary for sanitary reasons, it wouldn't even need to be washed. LOL. !! I would definitely try adding a little topper for your dog.

 

[prairiefire]

Picky dogs aren't born. They are made by their humans.

Put the food down for 10 minutes and if it is not eaten pick it up. At the next meal give only half the ration and leave it down for 10 minutes. If it's not eaten pick it up and repeat using 1/4 of the full ration. And absolutely not treats between meals. You're not starving the dog if the dog refuses to eat the food offered.

 

[Kathyy]

It took my first dog at least a week to realize when meals happened and better eat now. She was a complete food seeker too but out of her mind stressed coming to yet another new place. You could try offering 1/4 ration with some hot water added to increase aroma and once she's taking that readily increase to the amount she needs to maintain a good lean weight.

 

[Bluemoods]

Sometimes it takes up to a week before a new dog figures out a feeding schedule, especially if it's different than the old one or, if the dog has been free fed. Took my pup 3 days to get the idea that she should eat now and, wasn't going to get away with nibbling a bite or two here and there all day as she had done before I got her. I did buy a few cans of her old food to mix with the raw diet I feed her, to teach her to eat the raw food. Next week we start on kibble acceptance- in case of travel or other reason she may need to eat kibble. All of mine do get a snack of kibble daily, just so they will eat a readily available food if need be. We do travel a couple of times a year and, the dogs go with at least one of the two vacation. I have so far been able to rely on family to take them when we can't but, if they ever need to go to a boarding kennel or, overnight at the vet, raw won't work for that around here, the kennel nor the vet will feed raw, canned or kibble only.

Put the food down, with a topper or a bit of canned mixed in for 10-15 minutes, then remove it regardless of if the dog eats or not. Put the food back down next feeding time for a few minutes. The dog will learn it's eat now or no food for hours.

 

[Lissa60]

Another suggestion along with all these great ones is to ask what type of dish the dog was fed in before it came to you. I foster rescues and have found that one or two of my fosters didn't like the dish. Maybe their whiskers touch the side of the bowl and didn't before, maybe it smells funny to them, maybe it is to shallow or deep. Since I foster I have several types of dishes to offer initially, but do transition over to stainless steel with a skid proof bottom. A healthy dog will eventually eat. Changing a food dish, if you know what type it was before, may relieve a bit of anxiety for the dog and you.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

I had a GSD refuse food years back. It turned out she could not tolerate that food.

Kibble has become such a mine field to navigate... hundreds of choices. I have stepped back quite a lot from Kibble and now feed mostly raw. That Chicken soup stuff is not so great. Grain free has become not so great with Pea base (green or chick pea/garbanzo beans) since the pea protein adds to the label but is not real available/digestible to the dog.

I just ordered some trout food with rice. Rice is better than peas...............

For the non-kibble portion of the diet I feed RAW. Around Memorial Day I scored whole chicken breasts for 89 cents a pound (my RAW mix costs around $1.80 a pound). Yesterday I scored some Pork Ribs for 90 cents a pound. All three of my German Shepherds love this RAW diet and are much more excited about feeding time.