McGee is on raw as is Milo (and he has been for a long time, now -- doing great). She gets tiny puppy versions of everything and, when she eats, does really well. However, she has had some trouble gaining and keeping weight on her, which is a concern to me.
I finally realized she isn't picky per se. I mean, she loooooves liver and fish and all the things that dogs normally hate, in addition to chicken, pork, and other things we have added in gradually.
But, if I just put food down in front of her, she won't eat. She'll nose around it, play with the mat, sit and look pretty at me, but she won't eat. It's only if she SEES Milo eat something first that she'll be satisfied it's her turn to eat. I know this is sort of dog hierarchy stuff, but McGee is only 15 weeks old and eating 3 times a day. Milo could stand to lose 1-1.5 pounds and doesn't need to be eating 3x/day. He's also a food hound and cannot be trusted not to eat all of her food when I'm not fast enough to pull him away. So, he has to come in, eat a morsel off her towel, and then be sent out of the room.
At the nighttime meal this isn't a problem. He eats his whole meal, then it's her turn and she generally will eat. But, the whole process is sort of tiring. Have any of you had experience with this kind of thing? If I were to eat a cracker or something else planted near/on her food, do you think she'd get the picture that it's okay to eat and it's her turn?
It's not that she isn't hungry. She's VERY hungry and once she starts eating, she eats and eats and polishes everything off. It's just the ritual to get her to start eating that seems a bit protracted.
I finally realized she isn't picky per se. I mean, she loooooves liver and fish and all the things that dogs normally hate, in addition to chicken, pork, and other things we have added in gradually.
But, if I just put food down in front of her, she won't eat. She'll nose around it, play with the mat, sit and look pretty at me, but she won't eat. It's only if she SEES Milo eat something first that she'll be satisfied it's her turn to eat. I know this is sort of dog hierarchy stuff, but McGee is only 15 weeks old and eating 3 times a day. Milo could stand to lose 1-1.5 pounds and doesn't need to be eating 3x/day. He's also a food hound and cannot be trusted not to eat all of her food when I'm not fast enough to pull him away. So, he has to come in, eat a morsel off her towel, and then be sent out of the room.
At the nighttime meal this isn't a problem. He eats his whole meal, then it's her turn and she generally will eat. But, the whole process is sort of tiring. Have any of you had experience with this kind of thing? If I were to eat a cracker or something else planted near/on her food, do you think she'd get the picture that it's okay to eat and it's her turn?
It's not that she isn't hungry. She's VERY hungry and once she starts eating, she eats and eats and polishes everything off. It's just the ritual to get her to start eating that seems a bit protracted.
