Honestly, with all the foods available, I see no reason my dog shouldn't enjoy his food. I enjoy my food, why shouldn't he get to, as well.

 

I agree with this to a certain degree. There are so many good foods out there that if a dog is really "meh" about their food that there are other options (flavor and brand wise) that you could probably find something good that they like.

However, my primary goal in feeding my dogs is so that they get the nutrition they need, not to provide and enjoyable activity for them. im not going to throw out a good bag of food simply because it isn't their favorite, nor am I going to mix in all sorts of goodies like canned food on a regular basis to make it more exciting for them. My dog as a puppy wasn't always thrilled by that, but he now loves his daily fromm. Basically, I'm not going to jump through hoops so my dogs adore their food, but I would shop around if they really weren't thrilled by it.

My dogs enjoying their food doesn't mean that they enjoy their treats any less. It does mean that they'll work for kibble in the house, but I use soft treats and cut up food rolls out of the house for training. I've never once had my dogs refuse to work for treats.

That's not to say that I don't occasionally put canned food or tidbits in their bowls, but it's the exception to the rule.
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My young dog was on orijen from being 7weeks old and she grew bored of it. I saw no point in giving her something she only ate because she was starving hungry..i want my dog to look forward to her food, we want to enjoy our food don't we ???. She is now on millies wolfheart hunter mix and scoffs the lot...so no I wouldn't give her rubbish food just because she ate it but neither will I force her to eat a great food because she is starving hungry and my will is stronger than hers
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I tend to agree with DuckDodgers.

I feed raw. If I ever some day get a dog that doesn't like raw, I'm not going to switch it to kibble just because it should enjoy it's meal. I feel that raw is the absolute best diet that I can give them, and I'm not compromising on that.

 

I agree, we need to feed them the best food we can, but i feel they should at least like what they are eating.
Honestly ..i wish i could feed raw but i really struggle with some of the offal..i know im a whimp..i know.. but i just cant stomach it so i choose to feed her the best quality kibble we could afford, but i wasnt going to force her to eat it when she clearly didnt like it. I wouldnt give her rubbish food but i have tried hard to find a food the same quality as orijen but one she enjoys.. When looking for a new food , high quality ingredients were first on my list, then the 'taste challenge' came second

 

I think it's important that they at least like the food. I would not want to go through life eating what I hate simply because survival instinct kicked in and I didn't want to starve so I don't think my dog should have to.

Saying that I have been known to doctor up my dogs food to get him to finish the bag of a food he disliked before switching him to a different flavor or brand. I'm not going to throw away perfectly good food. By dislike I mean he didn't seem to care for it from the beginning. I am willing to fall into the "well I loved the food for a week or two, but now I'm going to refuse to eat it trap". I don't mind rotating flavors to keep the diet interesting but I'm not going to do so every two weeks.

 

I recently switched my puppy over from Fromm's Gold to Now Fresh for Large Breed puppies, which has better quality ingredients.

Maybe try the Go line next bag. There is a lot more protein in it. It is made by the same company great ingredients. If your dog hates the food the pet store will usually exchange it for a food your dog likes.

 

When I was told I had to change my diet to benefit my health (I have naturally high cholesterol) I was very upset I had to give up hamburgers. But now that my body and mind have fully transitioned to my new diet, I don't miss the bad stuff anymore and I love what I eat! I think that it'll take time for your dog to get used to the new food, but if it truly is working and is good for him, I'm sure he'll grow to like it more. Maybe adding a little broth or chicken stock to it might help the flavor, or adding warm water.

 

I think they can learn to like what you feed them. It just takes patience and an understanding of classical conditioning. My gsd has to be on raw. It's not an option. And there were a lot of foods she wouldn't touch. But she's learned to love them.

 

Its important to me that my dogs enjoy their food one is kibble fed ( nutrience grain free chicken turkey and herring) and the other is raw fed prey model raw minced cubes and bone in pieces every3 days.

Charlie got bored of the now fresh senior thats why he on the nutrience grain free plus bit cheaper and as for Jessie the raw fed one thats only novel protiens like duck and possum, venison possum and tripe, venison and liver, duck necks, possum pieces, rabbit and goat. the company got a new mix in Wanaka Rabbit, Wild Goat and Hawkes Bay Lamb Green Tripe Minced Cubes which i have to try with Jessie.

Also its cheaper getting those proteins because i can get 3-4 proteins for $60 most proteins last 6.6 days so that is normally a month and with so many allergies its best for her

 

IMO, meal times can be so valuable in training your dog that you should take that into account. for example, i use meal times to condition my dogs to enjoy time in their kennels, if they didn't enjoy the food it wouldn't be very useful for this and i would then have to find some other food item to give them and account for it in their daily calorie intake. it is doable, but life is so much more convenient if you can use something that you already must provide for another purpose.

that said, dogs may not like a food at first, if they haven't had it before, but may grow to like it as the become accustomed. humans are similar fwiw. i never liked curry and didn't enjoy it the first time i tried it, but now it is one of my favorite foods. my dogs didn't like raw foods the first time i fed it but now the recognize the container and dash for their kennels drooling when i have it for them.

 

With my dogs, they love any food put in front of them, so it's not an issue. But if they were picky, I would give them what's best for them, even if it's not their favorite. Now if I could find a similar quality food that they liked, I would do that. But to me nutrition and health is more important than them being crazy excited for it.

 

I am actually struggling with this, myself. I feed raw...a pre-mix because I don't have time to make sure I get the ratios right. She loved it at first. Now, not so much. I don't want to go back to kibble but feeding time is getting to be disastrous. She guards her food now because she has gotten used to me putting it back in the refrigerator after a certain amount of time has passed. If I leave her alone to let her eat on her own, she just lays down next to it. If I toss treats in with it, she'll eat a little. (her treats are expensive, refrigerated dog food that I would feed her all the time if I could afford it.) My trainer has suggested starving her out until she eats. This has been going on for months now and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. I'm open to giving her something different, but still within my price range, which is about $2.50 a pound. I know she's hungry because she wants all of the treats, but she isn't enjoying eating the "real" food. Should I keep starving her out or look for other options? Would it be terrible to feed a month kibble and a month raw to keep it interesting for her?

 

Are you rotating between proteins? I feed The Honest Kitchen and use the base mix, around every week or two I switch which protein I am using and it keeps him interested in the food.

You could try heating it up slightly, maybe in a hot water bath, so it doesn't actually cook, and see if she'd prefer it warm.

If you find that she simply hates it then maybe try something like The Honest Kitchen, it's not quite raw but it is human quality food, and if you like you can add raw meat rather then cooked meat to it.

 

Rain,
I was looking at the honest kitchen website right before I posted that. I have been switching between proteins but River is just picky...moreso than my cat. I may have a go at the honest kitchen to see if that helps any.
Thank you!

 

DuckDodgers,
She has lost a couple of pounds, but she's still at a good weight, and I took her to the vet. We're going to run a blood test in a couple of months when she goes in for her vaccinations, but overall she seems really healthy. I usually will start her food with one or two bits of goodies and then as she eats the food part, I give her more treats so she only gets the treats for eating the food instead of getting the treats in place of eating the food. At one point I was trying to clicker train her to eat food. Feeding time has gotten stressful for both of us now, so I play games with her after the food is put up or eaten so she has a reason to want to finish eating. I would just like it to be a little bit easier.