i have an almost 1 year old beagle.When we first got him he ate his normal dried dog food normally.He kinda got bored and sick of it since it was the same thing over and over,so we tried giving him some things like pasta or chicken or soup,im not sure if its good enough but my parents have also been giving him bones leftover from dinner.They jsut stopped feeding him dog food and give him things like this and bread.I tried telling them to stop but they wont.And now i try to at least mix his normal dog food with theother food my parents give him,but he just leaves it.I tried changing the brand of dog food but it dosent help.Can anyone help me find a way to make my dog eat his dog food normaly and eat healthy.

RubyPitbull

Wouldn't you rather eat your tasty food than dog food? :-) That is what has happened here with your dog. It is hard to say no to those little faces begging, but for his health, your parents really need to stop feeding him the leftovers.

There are two things you can do.
One, which is very important is to exercise him very well every day. You need to create an appetite in him.
Two, is to stop giving him people food. You may want to change up his food and give him some of the more expensive stuff that you find at the pet store. Van Patten makes excellent food as well as the Chicken Soup for the Dog Soul (I think that is what it is called). Find something that mimicks people food but is good for dogs. You may want to mix in some canned dog food with his kibble. Put his food bowl down and leave it there. If he doesn't eat it by the end of the day, throw it out and don't feed him. Believe me, he won't die from not eating for one day. Just make sure he has plenty of water. On the second day, give him a good long walk or some good exercise in the morning. Then, feed him the new kibble with some canned food mixed in. I would be very surprised if he doesn't slurp it down.

The bottom line is, as long as he knows he will get the "people stuff" he will turn his nose up to his normal food. Your family needs to stand united on this problem and not give in. The minute you do, the food retraining will go out the window.

Hope this helps you. All the best,....

Sentra

If he hasn't yet, see if he will eat a few cans of the wet food for dogs; there are more flavors, some similiar to people food.

labman

There is a full discussion of eating problems in the Dog forum sticky under ''My dog won't eat''. See http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/in...tml#post254171 Switching to canned food is not the right thing to do. It is a bad thing to do. Dry dog food is much better for dogs teeth and jaws. It also helps scrape off bad breath causing tartar.

I have extensive training and experience with dogs. Parents? Well, I had a lot of trouble getting mine to do what I wanted too. Dogs need a complete and balanced diet. There is no way you can manage that mixing in table scraps. Sudden changes in diet can can lead to digestive upsets too. Just because it was always done that way is no excuse to continue a poor practice.