My dog used to be the most finicky eater possible. Everybody had to dance, sing and entertain her every meal. It was a disaster. Now, she eats everything in a second, literally.
The problem with your dog is overfeeding. I am positive of that. You probably either feed her too much food if you have scheduled feedings or the food is available in excess to your dog every time.
I've never free fed my dog. However, I did feed her probably more than she needed during my scheduled feedings.
One day when she refused to take food, I waited for 20 minutes without any entertainment and took the food away from her. I gave her a chance to eat again at the lunch time - she refused again. After 20 minutes of waiting, I took the food away from her again. For dinner, I gave her a chance to eat again. After she refused, I did not feed her anything until the following morning. In other words, she had no food for a whole day. The following day, she was a new dog, eating everything. I realized that she could survive for a day without food because she had that much extra. I talked to the vet just to make sure that I am doing everything right and not underfeeding her. The vet said that I am right in every sense. He asked me to look at my dog, who is tiny being under 3 lbs in weight. He said that it really does not take much for such a tiny creature to get full.
I cut her portion in half. It changed my life, literally. The dog has gained weight and is happy, and energetic all the time. |