QuestionI have a 6 month old Bassethound. He was eating twice a day once in the morning and once late afternoon and only dry food. I fed him can food once as I had no more dry food in the house and now he won't eat any dry food and will only eat if I feed him myself. I mixed the can and dry food together but picks out only the can food. I have changed the dry food 5 times and he won't eat any of them. Is this normal behavior. I don't want him eating canned food but I don't know what else I can do.Is my dog turning into a food critic?
AnswerHi Jaime,
Nope...he's not a food critic, he's a good trainer. :)
You've made one of the most common feeding mistakes, switching food. What he's doing is waiting you out to see if he'll get something better. Smart, eh?!
Here's what you do. Pick a food, the best you can afford, and stick with it. If you want to put a bit of warm water on it, that's fine but that's all. Warm water makes the food smell a bit more.
Set up a feeding schedule, something you can stick to daily. Figure out what he should be eating, per day, and split that amount in half. Feed half in the morning and the same time and half in the evening at the same time.
Put his bowl down for 20 minutes. If he doesn't eat, or what he leaves, pick it up. Don't feed him ANYTHING (no treats, tidbits, nothing) until his next scheduled feeding. Feed him the amount he should be eating at that meal, for 20 minutes again. If he doesn't eat, pick it up. He gets nothing until his next meal. Do you understand? I can try to explain it differently if you don't.
A healthy dog will not starve itself. If he doesn't eat for a couple days, so be it. He'll soon figure out that he eats what you put down, when you put it down, or he doesn't eat.
