Our bad habits cause dogs to be finicky
When you, as a dog owner, feed your canine friend the most nutritious dog food you can buy and he walks away from his food bowl, you may think that you have a finicky dog.
A dog has no need to have a continuous change of pet food. He will be quite content eating the same food every day for the rest of his life – if it is a tasty nutritious meal of course. Dogs are opportunistic hunters and are accustomed to playing their owners to get whatever they can, when they can. Don’t fall for it!
A finicky dog is encouraged with the habits of owners who start to feed them scraps from the dinner table. A dog who realises they will be fed treats if they do not eat their meals will test you out. All is not lost however as you can correct this type of behaviour.
Place his food down at his normal mealtime, after half an hour if he does not eat it, take it away. Do not offer any treats.
The same routine should be applied at his next mealtime. Once your dog realises there is nothing else on offer he will start nosing around for some food scraps when you are eating your meals.
You may find that your dog starts to complain. However, if you stay with your routine he will eventually start to eat his meals.
If changing your dog food, do it gradually over a couple of days and do not leave food out too long in hot weather.
