Thanks so much for that Donna and everyone else. Your experience sounds almost identical to ours. Bonzo is 6 months and we've realised he's definitely teething because I found a tooth a couple of days ago. In himself he's fine, but the breeder told us he may go off his food when he's teething. That's all we need!
I guess I feel guilty for establishing this play/feed routine which we're now struggling to change, and I'm also getting resentful of the time it takes to feed him. It worries me that if we travel with him, feeding will be a problem. I too am far more used to big dogs who woof their food down and are always looking for more. Bonzo seems to have a much more 'laissez faire' attitude, but I'm learning, through the help of other members that this is fairly normal for the breed.
I will certainly try the parmesan cheese and maybe start the day with a little soft food. (I don't know if we can get Wellness here. I bought him a tin of Ceasar - there wasn't much choice in the local supermarket.) He's a good weight and doesn't look thin, I think it's mainly in my head. It's totally ridiculous the amount of worrying I'm doing about his feeding. I too have a 'skin child' and although I still worry about him, even he has pointed out that I'm getting a wee bit over the top over this 3lb bundle of joy!
We've had serious snow here in the North East of England which has added to my reluctance to just bite the bullet and put food down for him and leave him to it. The last time we did that he went until 7pm with nothing, stopped drinking and sulked/slept in his box. As he's teething and the weather's so cold, I really don't want him losing weight.
Guess I better get my ski's on and hotfoot it to our local supermarket for some parmesan.
Thank you to everyone for your advice and support. It's such a relief to have people to turn to who understand the problem, and I really appreciate the time you've put into replying
