Very handsome corgi you have there.

This is a perfect example of a dog who has trained her owner very well! The truth is that, in trying so hard to please her with food and get her to eat, which is completely understandable and not in itself a bad thing, you have created a situation where every time she feels like having a change she just stops eating because that will make you give her something new. This pattern needs to be broken or it will continue for her lifetime.

I believe is finding something the dog really does like and then putting toppers on that to make it even more appealing. I always want my dogs to like their food and have a somewhat varied diet. But I do not believe in letting my dog train me to feed her different food all the time.

The home made food you are currently giving her is not a balanced diet. If you want to feed home made food, that is fine, but you have to research the topic exhaustively and make certain that you are giving her all the nutrients she needs, and in all the right proportions. That means not just finding out the dog needs taurine and so putting some amount on the food, or just giving the dog a supplement tablet. It means knowing how much taurine is in the home made meal, and every version of it, and adding the right amount, making sure she doesn't end up with too much, making sure she gets enough calcium, and so on with all of the others. This is complicated at first and requires constant monitoring if the ingredients in the home made change. It is a lot easier for most people to feed a high quality of dog food.

I suggest this: you know what she likes, these days. So, use that as a topper but feed her a good quality of kibble with the topper mixed in. Ease into it slowly if you like, but if/when it gets to the point that she won't eat, then just pick up the food after 10 minutes and put it away. Don't put it down again until next meal time. Repeat as many times as you need to until she eats. No treats in-between, no chews. If she asks for food, then put it down for her right away. If she doesn't eat it, put it away again and again put it down at the next meal time. Once she realizes it is this food (which you already know she likes) or nothing, she will eat it.

A healthy dog will not starve herself, and in a few days at the most she will start eating. This works every time, unless there is an underlying medical problem. If you and your vet have determined there's no medical problem of any kind at all, then this is what you need to do. If you are not certain about her health or lack of internal disorders then please be sure to get that thoroughly checked out first.

 

First of all skip a meal of feeding. Skipping two meals would be better. Dog won't starve or die from not eating for 24 hours.

At meal #3 take the old kibble she used eat and give her HALF what you normally feed. Put it down. Walk away. Anything not eaten in 20 minutes you pick up and put away until next meal.

Next meal again put down half what you normally feed. In 20 minutes pick it up.

Rinse. Repeat.
When she eats the half ration offered within 20 minutes give her full ration next meal. Again any food not eaten in 20 minutes gets picked up.

NO TREATS during this. Walk and play with her as always. Do not make a big deal out of food.

No dog will starve itself to death.

 

I generally agree totally with the 'tough love' method of dealing with picky eating dogs, especially if said pickiness has been brought on by a medically necessary period of more desirable food (and then complicated by the humans frantic attempts to get the dog to eat with food changes, toppers, etc...) However! In this case we're talking about a 5 month old puppy & puppies are a bit more delicate when it comes to fasting. I'd just suggest talking to the vet first about the issue & make sure there are no medical contraindications to missing a meal (or two, or three) Then, if given the veterinary green light - follow the advice above.

 

Thank you Khecha Wacipi, 3GSD4IPO and BKaymuttleycrew for the kind comments! Thank you again for reading my long post! I am a terrible writer I know...

I know the tough love method should work and I have tried the tough love method several times. I also know that healthy puppy would not starve itself, but Maple's so stubborn that she would go more than 36hr without eating them kibbles. I thought exercising her would exhaust her energy and make her hungry, so during that 36hr she went to hikes with me and played in the playground with the dogs. No luck, she came back home, I put the kibbles down, she nosed them away every single time. That's 36hrs without eating anything while showing 120% energy level...My dilemma is that Maple is only 7 month old and food would be crucial for her at this stage of life.

My dilemma is that Maple's only 7 months old, so food would be crucial for her growth at this stage of life, but she's simply not eating them kibbles even after 36 hours of fasting and exercising! Throughout her last month of abnormal eating pattern, she grew slightly bigger but her weight was stalled. Even the vet mentioned that she's on the skinnier side and it's rare for Corgi to be skinny. That's why I started giving her the meal I described above.

I eventually do want to switch her back to high quality kibbles because I agree with all of you - dog nutrition is a complex topic and home cooked meal could potentially lack a few key nutrition. I will try slowly introducing kibbles back into her diet now, but I have a feeling she would just spit every single kibble out...facepalm...

She hasn't had kibbles for 3 days so 5 minutes ago I just took 3 kibbles and put them in front of her. She smelled it and turned her head away...facepalm again...

 

I'm with BKaymuttleycrew in that I wouldn't fast a puppy the way I might an adult dog. Heck there are some people who think a day of fasting every week is good for dogs.

However, I do think that constantly adding this and that, changing foods, etc., produces a picky eater, and agree with deciding on a food, putting it down, and picking it up 20 minutes later no matter how much or how little is gone. I know a woman who went the add-better-to-the-food route. I think it was when she found herself adding filet mignon to her Rottie's food that she woke up, stopped that, and did the tough love.

Another consideration is that Maple probably started teething about the time all this started. I don't know how common it is, but my puppy ate kibble voraciously until he hit teething age. At that point he started leaving food every day, wouldn't even look at his middle meal (I was still feeding him 3 times a day), so I dropped that and started him on twice a day. For some reason he was more inclined not to eat the morning meal or to eat part of it and almost always finished the evening meal.

He never got skinny with all that, but he definitely was slimmer than he had been or than I liked. He's now 9+ months old and for the last week has been cleaning up his meals again. Sometimes he's a little slow with the morning meal still, but I haven't thrown out expensive kibble for over a week.

I would soak the kibble in warm water and mix in some canned. That way everything is balanced. The down side, of course, is that if the dog doesn't eat, you have to throw it away.

 

You are definitely right with the teething part. Yes, Maple was a voracious kibble eater before her teething completed. Heck she still liked the kibble during teething! You have any idea why?

 

Did you try putting some yummy topper on those kibbles, as suggested?
36 hours of not eating is not going to damage a 7 month old puppy. I recommend that if you get an OK from the vet you simply follow the advice, and tough it out with her until she eats. Otherwise, you will have this problem with this dog for the next 15 years.

 

I tried several toppers. What she does is that she would lick the topper from them kibbles. Any accidentally ingested kibbles would be spat out...After all the topper is gone she would walk away...

I will restart the kibble battle soon...you read my mind exactly, dealing with this for the next 15 years would be the last thing I want.

 

This is a really good webinar on teaching your dog to eat. dog-ibox » “But my dog isn't food-motivated.”

 

This is a really good webinar on teaching your dog to eat. dog-ibox » “But my dog isn't food-motivated.”

Thank you very much!

 

Corgis can be a bit obtuse about things. They actually have the patience to wait you out where most dogs will give up sooner.

As mentioned, I would consult with your doctor and get their OK to "play hard ball". Then I would do as provided above.

And remember: No treats. No snacks. If you are treat training, change the treats to kibble until she starts eating again.

 

"Topper" is kind of a misnomer. You have to mix what you add in so it can't be picked out. Or at least so it takes a lot of work. That's one reason adding water and mixing in canned food helps. Nowadays some canned is in chunks, but if you get the old fashioned ground meat kind and mix it thoroughly, it's hard to pick out.

 

One other thing that might (or might not! lol) be helpful is to try feeding her in some sort of puzzle toy rather than in a regular bowl. Nothing too hard, just something to make eating more of a game than a chore. Look at kong wobblers or something similar. Just scatter feeding on the floor (chasing down, pouncing on & eating kibbles = puppy fun) or using a snuffle mat might help. You can even use a cardboard egg carton as a 'puzzle' by putting the kibbles inside for her to 'find'.

Or she might not be interested in enrichment feeding, but it's something easy to try.

 

Thanks every one for the informative and helpful suggestions. I will experiment for another month and update!