Chinese Crested eating habits

Question
Hi Becky,
I have a one year old Chinese Crested Powderpuff male named Chai, and he's wonderful, but underweight. His size is good but he only weighs 3.2 kg (about 7 lbs). He is the first 'small' dog I've ever owned and my last dog was a full size collie. I'm mentioning this because of the extreme differences in their respective eating habits. My collie would eat any type of dry food and I never gave him anything from the table.

I got Chai when he was already 6 months old and was told to mix can food with dry. I did but he only ate the canned food and left the dry in the bowl. Pretty nimble tongue action but not exactly what I wanted him to do. I tried cabbage and other vegetables and even made up my own rice recipe I remembered my grandmother using with her poodles. He did gain weight, up to 3.8 kg, but again left the dry in the bowl. His weight gain was good but the vet said that his teeth had become those of a much older dog due to the soft food diet.

For the past month I've had him on dry only, but he barely eats and his weight has gone back down to 3.2 kg. I'm trying to give him only 'natural' dry food and have tried many different types, but he's very finicky. I'm trying to stick to just one type now, and I measure the amount I give him, but the volume he eats per time is going down slowly.

I live in Japan where the dog culture is different. Most dry food includes corn which CCs are allergic to. The ones that don't are more expensive and hard to get. What do you think I should do? My little buddy is active, loves people and other dogs, and isn't sick as far as I can tell. I just want him to reach his optimal weight so that I can focus more on his teeth. He loves bones and eats them all up, but that's not enough to keep him going. Any advice you have will help both of us sleep better. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Answer
Hi Tip!

I have three Chinese Cresteds, one is a powderpuff.  All of mine eat dry dog food only.  If your crested won't eat it, then the best thing would be to keep him on the canned. I know it's not good for the teeth, but bones and chew toys will help keep them clean.  You could also take him for regular teeth cleanings.  I know that is not what you want to hear, but you really need to let him eat in order to gain weight.  You mentioned rice, will he eat it if it is mixed with the canned food?  I would think that would help put some weight on him.  Since he barely eats the dry food, I would give him canned.  That's just my opinion, but I think he needs more nourishment than what he is getting.   I understand you wanting to keep him on dry, but if he just won't eat it, what good will that do?
Good luck and God bless!
Becky