Hello Louibug and all...
I have spent the last 3 years and
tons of money trying to get Sheba to eat the nutritional dry food. I've tried everything on the market and some that aren't and she will not eat it. I feed her canned (Canidae) at dinner time which I warm up and drizzle boiled chicken on to entice her but I want her to eat kibble (cereal) during the day and she may nibble but she won't go near the healthy brands. I mix them with her "crappy" food and she'll pick out the quality stuff no matter what I drizzle on it or mix it with...she just won't do it!
You're going to hear "your dog won't starve itself" and "it's because Mommy's spoiling him/her" and all sort of standard lines. I've also been accused of not giving her enough time to "give in". I hear the words to the song "if loving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right".
Yes, we care too much but we eventually find a nice middle ground.
Experiment but decide early on how far you'll go before you both agree on the middle ground because I went WAY too far!
One important thing I found out in the last 3 years that I think is good to keep in mind is to keep their feeding as simple as possible. I wound up in the hospital and realized NOBODY knew how to feed Sheba. I had to orchestrate it over the phone with my family and the nurses were having a fit!! So, the more complicated it is, the more worry that may come your way.
K.I.S.S.
I have also found that Sheba gets to the point where she's so hungry that she can't get started at dinnertime. She likes to eat once a day, just like some people. I give her a few bites by hand to get her started which everyone says is so bad. Oh well...
I have other breeds of dogs and none are as "special" as my yorkie and not even close to being picky like her but then again, none of them stand on top of my chest and kiss me like there's no tomorrow or curl up in my husband's armpit to sleep for the night.
Maybe it's the breed or maybe it's because they're so stinkin' cute that we alter their behavior and make them so picky but I don't think we would have them if we weren't qualified for the job...I just don't think God would give them to
just anybody.
So, do what works for you guys and I wish you luck. At the very least you know you're not alone.