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Originally Posted by RawfedYorkieLuv  Don't feel guilty about setbacks! You have a plan, you know what you want to achieve and it will happen! As it's been discussed before, some dogs will eat raw food like it's the best thing since sliced bread. Others will play the coy game for a while! My senior held out for two whole days before he took to his chicken drumstick. He weighed 12 pounds at the time and since he's been with me for so long I knew just how long I was comfortable with him fasting. I removed the skin, scored into it with a sharp knife to make it easier for him to get pieces off and I also encouraged him with words and held it for him. I think that he just didn't know that the chicken was supposed to be food as it definitely smells different than kibble or canned. He finally ate but if he had not, I probably would've tried the next suggestion; I've heard from a couple of people that they had to sear the meat a little on the outside in order for their dog to take it initially. I always recommend a good size chicken drumstick for first timers as it's perfect for small breed dogs (up to 15 pounds, bigger pieces for serious gulpers!) A little bit of tough love is definitely in order, no dog will starve himself to death but he might end up experiencing a low blood sugar fit before his stubbornness wears off which is the main concern with toy breeds so you will need to realistically estimate just how long you think he'd be fine without eating! I have a 9 month old 1 1/2 pounder and when she came to me she was just 19 ounces. I knew that she HAD to eat something every 2-3 hours. I made sure she took plenty of Nutrical and water as the first two days she did eat a little bit of ground mix off my finger just not enough. I then resorted to taking tiny globs of food and placed it on her tongue. After about 3 minutes she got the idea and licked her bowl clean! I then let her watch the other dogs eat their meaty bones and she showed great interest so I gave her one of her own, the rest is history, lol. Keep us updated!
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Thanks! You guys are so helpful!
I think I'm afraid of not knowing what he needs to make sure he gets his proper nutrition. Is there a good site that explains what different meats give them?