Such a hard time to get my boxer to eat!

Question
Hello Jennifer,

I apologize for the long post. Giving you all the answers you usually ask for from the original poster.

I've spent the last 2 weeks reading almost every Q & A on this very helpful site. I have definitely read all the posts of owners & their boxers struggling to eat their food. I might have exhausted all the remedies you recommended. First off, my beautiful boxer "Molly" is 4 months old and weighs around 24-27lbs depending how many meals she decides to eat on that particular day. When she eats her 3 meals (1 cup per meal) a day she looks like she is ready to compete in a dog show. Very healthy with a beautiful coat. But at least 1 day out of every week, we will be lucky to get her to finish 1 meal. So for that day & the following, almost all her ribs are visible. Her spine never really becomes visible.

I've been feeding her Innova med/large breed puppy food. The first 2 weeks (we got her at 8 wks old) she ate fine. Never gobbled up the food. But she ate it. Then she would just eat a bit. So I mixed it in with the canned Innova puppy food. That worked for another 2 wks. Same problem occurs, barely eats it. We have a training bag of beef treats, that I would sprinkle on the food. Worked for 1 week. Moved on to the non-flavor yogurt, that seemed to work fantastic for 2 wks. Now, same problem again. Tried the raw egg too. She just licks up all the egg or licks up all the yogurt from the food. I know you recommend a self feeding method, since boxers are grazers. But she shares a section of the house with our 3 yr old shih-tzu, who when nobody is looking will run to Molly's bowl & gobble up everything. Molly also seems to want to eat Samantha's food if she ever gets the chance. It's like forbidden fruit to them.

My wife will feed Molly in the mornings around 7-7:30. I put the dogs up around 8:45. I come home for lunch around 12:30 & feed her lunch & let them play outside for 30 mins. We both get home from work around 4:30 to let them out. Dinner time is around 7-7:30pm. But every meal she does eat, either me or my wife has to be standing right above her while she eats, or she just won't. This can last up to 20 mins, trying to get her to eat. We know she won't ever starve herself. She will just skip brkfst & lunch but eat dinner. I know 1 cup of food for the day can't be healthy or beneficial.

I appreciate any advice you can give me. I'm sure you've come across a boxer or 2 in your life that has had this problem. So you can imagine how taxing it could be. I just hope to come up with a lasting solution. I know while they are puppies eating their food is crucial for them developing into healthy strong adults. Thank you so much, for taking the time.

Answer
Hi Roel,

Your puppy is training you very well! :)  She's learned that if she doesn't eat her food, you'll add something extra to it, increasing the yumminess factor as time goes on.

This is a common situation with Boxers, and it's hard not to give in to it. You are right, though, that she will not starve herself. It is uncomfortable when a dog won't eat, especially a puppy, but now is the time to set and enforce guidelines, or you'll end up like a Boxer owner I know who has to cook lamb chops for her dog every night, because that's the only thing he'll eat now.

I do not recommend free-feeding or self-feeding, although some other Experts here might, and especially not for puppies. It makes housetraining extremely difficult, it can lead to picky eating, it makes it difficult to know whether a dog is eating or not and how much, and if you ever need to have an emergency surgery you have no way of knowing when the dog last ate.

Your job now is to teach Molly that you are the leader and you control mealtimes. Put her food down for 20 minutes -- if she eats it, great. If she doesn't, pick it up and try again at the next meal time. Again, put it down for 20 minutes, then pick it up. She will not starve herself! It will probably only take a day or two for her to get the message -- she may eat one or two meals and then refuse one or two, but stay firm and consistent.

It might be tempting to try changing her food, but that can get you into the same situation as adding things to the food. Get her eating her food when it's put down, and then consider a switch if you think she might be more enthusiastic about something else. Many vets and nutritionists these days recommend rotating foods, on the theory that the nutritional analysis provides minimums and/or maximums, but there's a wide range of actual nutrient content within those numbers; rotating foods can help avoid long-term excess or deficiency, since different pet food manufacturers have different formulations for their vitamin/mineral mixes. You might want to check out the Dog Food Analysis website for information on high-quality foods to use in a rotation.

Good luck!