How old is your baby?

Emma was on Eukunuba Puppy until I found out how bad of a food it was. Now she eats Blue Buffalo Puppy, which I will be changing to adult formula with the next bag since she's almost a year old. I feed her twice daily.

I had a hard time getting her to eat her food, and my vet (and behaviorist, but that's for other reasons :) ) both suggested a couple of things to help with this:

-It may not be the FOOD that you need to change, but the behaviors and habits surrounding mealtime and food.

-I was free feeding Emma too-putting food out and letting her eat when and what she wanted. Both doctors said to call her over, put the food down, and leave it for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pick the food up. If she eats, great, and if not, oh well! After going hungry a couple times, she will learn to eat when there is food.

-Our behaviorist told us that dogs need to know who their "leader" is, and one of the best ways to demonstrate this is through providing food. Now, before Emma can eat, she has to "work" for her food, meaning do a trick before she can eat. This can be taught from puppyhood, with the simple "sit" and can get more complex as the dog learns new things. We mix it up, either doing a series of commands before the food gets set down, practicing her newest trick, and now we've advanced to having Emma sit, we put the food down, and walk away. She will stay put until we say, "Ok! Good Girl! Time to Eat!", and then she eats. That way, she knows WE provide the food, WE lead her as to WHEN to eat. She has fun doing her different tricks before mealtime-it's a game to her, and it's almost as if she is thinking "what do I get to do today!!??!!"

Now, Emma eats on a good schedule, and the right amount so that we know she is getting proper nutrition.

I hope this helps-maybe try it for a couple weeks, and see how your little one does.

Good luck!

Bailey will be 2 on April 30th. The Merricks puppy plate is for all stages, it is also for smaller breeds of dogs. The store owner owns and shows yorkies and this is what she says she and her friends feed their yorkies. There are alot of foods out there to try. I give Bailey dry but at dinner time she gets a small amount of wet food now to take her lactobacillous tablet to keep her tummy feeling good. (she is lactose intolerant so she can't eat yogart and cottage cheese)
I was just happy I found a healthier food she likes.

I am sorry that Sassy's Valentines Day will be spent at the vets office. She will be fine. Bailey was spayed at 6 mo when she was 3 lbs. I would do whatever else needed to be done at that time. Baby teeth? Microchipped? Teeth cleaning?

Spell check is not working right, I noticed that earlier when all the common usage words were being flagged to change to ..I don't even know...I figured if I could read it, everybody else would be able to understand it also.:D

I am going to Visalia, CA on Tuesday to check out the foods. I will inquire about the Merricks as well. Thank you.

I did ask the vet about cleaning her teeth at the time he does the spay but he said no. His point is that the spay procedure should be in a sterile environment and the teeth cleaning stirs up nasty germs. Which I understand the logic behind because I have to take an antibiotic when I get my teeth cleaned.

He will be removing her dewclaws on her back legs as they were missed when the breeder took her in for that. ?!

I can't wait to get everything solved so I can settle down for a bit. It's stressful worrying about this little bit. But she is the sweetest little bit I have ever known. ;)

Have him check her baby teeth, Bailey had 4 pulled when she was spayed.

Take care, she will be ok.
Make sure you post before she goes in so we can all say a little prayer for her. :)

Thanks, I will have him check that.

All prayers for my precious will be appreciated. :)

Sassy is so adorable, what a sweet little face!

Do you give missing link? Goodness, I gave it to Sassy for the first time and now she has diarreah. She came to the computer crying to be picked up...I did...eeeuuuuu!! What a surprise. I don't think I will give her any more of that!

Just like when changing diets, you need to slowly introduce the missing link. I started out small and now give the recommended amount. I hope she feels better soon!! big hugs.

I don't give Bailey missing link, I was not sure what is was so I asked my vet and the pet store owner who has yorkies, and they both said in their opinion if your dog was not having health problems and you were feeding a healthy diet they didn't need it. And with Bailey's sensitive tummy I am not going to give her more stuff...her hair is soft, her skin is not dry, she doesn't shed. So at this point, in my opinion she doesn't need it.

Thank you. I had questioned the vet at the Missing Link website because one of the ingredients is garlic. He said the amount is very small and is not harmful. He has Yorkies. He told me that at three and a half pounds, Sassy should get on quarter teaspoon a day. He didn't mention a little bit of that at a time and I guess I am an idiot....:( :eek: as I gave her the whole amount in cottage cheese and she ate it all. Now we have diarreah...I say we, because it very much involves me as well. Phew-wee. Lots of bottom bathing. I tried some activia this morning. Nope. I just don't knwo what to do any more.

And thank you, too. I thought to use the Missing Link because Sassy is not eating well at all and I want her to have the nourishment she needs. At his point, I am wondering if I have caused all of this by trying so hard to tempt her. I don't know if the best thing to do is to wait and see if she gets hungry enough to eat the dry that is always there for her or what. I am definitely distressed over the whole issue because I am not accustomed to not knowing how to handle a situation. :confused: :(

If you are giving her several different foods, it may be causing her tummy upset. Give her boiled chicken and white rice for a few days and let her system rest. She will eat it when she is hungry. When I did this with Bailey, I would give her a small bowl in the morning and again at night, with no dry at all. and bottled water. She will eat.

I tried boiled chicken and rice last night. Except I put in a little carrot as well. She wouldn't eat it. I think I am at the point where there is no choice except to let her decide she needs to eat. I have exhausted everything I can think of. I did give her a bit of cheddar cheese last night and this morning because I am hoping it will help the diarreah. It is the only thing she will take. So I guess I just have to let her get hungry enough to eat?

Mercy me. This is hard. I guess I am just too much of a worrier.

Breeder said the same thing about Max. Well, he will eat if the girls do. If the girls snub their noses, so does he. I'm mostly cooking for them, because I've tried every brand out there & they hate it. They will eat a few kibbles of Pro Pac puppy lamb & rice. This morning they had scrambled eggs & cheese. A couple pieces of apple & cooked carrots. Tonight cooked chicken & rice/w green beans. Vet said I was doing fine cooking for them.

Hi, been there and gone through all that you are, one thing I quickly learnt was that the smaller dry food was easier for ours to eat so I got the small bites, there are different brands that have the small bites dry food. We went through the hand feeding and mixing just a tiny bit of cottage cheese with the dry, as a treat we give Baby Blessing baby carrots cut up real tiny I call them her carrot cookies :) the white chicken meat is good for them, but by only putting a little with the dry food and gradually just feeding the dry food. you can break up the dry food a bit see if that helps by it being smaller pieces. I will tell you Baby Blessing has no problem of eating now she loves her dry food and is vey happy at eating, hang in there it will get better. What age is your puppy? When they are young they don't eat much at a time, ours chose to eat a little now and then so we went according to her desires and needs. Please, keep us posted on how she is doing. I just read where she has the diahrea cook some white rice plain and give her just a little of that with white chicken meat.
Patti and Baby Blessing