Dog that won't eat.

[dieselnallie]

Ok, so Miss isn't a boxer, but I thought I'd ask this here anyway.
Miss is my 2 year old Jack Russel mix. (her mom was Reg. Jack and her dad looked like he was beagle/corgi?) anyway, She's a little pain in the rear when it comes to feeding. I have tried all sorts of dog food. (I even tried kibbles and bits and beniful just to see if she would try it) and got nothing. I'm lucky if she takes 2 bites!
But, Miss goes to work with me (I'm a horse trainer so it's a barn) and she'll go inside the house with the owner of the barn and eat her dogs food! Like she's STARVING and can't last another minute with out eating. The owner of the barn feeds kibbles and bit which is why I tried it at home but she wants nothing to do with it.
She'll eat scrambled eggs if she's in the mood but I try mixing it with her dog food and she won't touch it. I tried raw eggs a few minutes ago and she looked at it like I was trying to poison her. I do feed her some hamburger, but she'll eat it a few times and then will turn her nose up at even that! Yogert will convince her to eat some, but it ends up with her just liking the yogert off the food.
Thoughts?

[Cami]

No nice way to put this but.....
YOU are being trained.
A healthy dog will not starve itself with food readily available. Eventually they will eat.
You are "doctoring" the food too much by adding things to it. You are offering changes too often. She is anticipating your next move before you do it. She can easily wait you out (has been doing so) and you are giving different options!
Think of it like this....
If you really wanted french fries and knew they would be available soon but someone gave you broccoli.....would you eat the broccoli?
Probably not. You would wait until you got the french fries!

Pick one food. Put it down at meal time. Give her 20-30 minutes to eat. If she doesn't eat within that time frame, remove the bowl. Don't offer something else. No treats. Nothing. Next meal time offer her the same food and repeat the process. Eventually (before she starves!!) she WILL eat what is there for her and will get used to eating her entire portion when it is given.

**Don't allow her to steal food in other places either!

Be more stubborn than the dog. It can be done.

All of this of course relies on her being a healthy dog free from anything that might be causing her to not eat.

[dieselnallie]

"Be more stubborn than the dog. It can be done. "

You're right. Miss is the first dog I've had that has been a picky eater. So I have been babying her, trying to make her food smell/taste better for her. And now looking back. I don't think I had this problem with her until last year when I was living with an older couple. The man would feed her table scraps (A BIG no-no in my book)
*sigh* she's probably holding out for table scraps....

Thanks. I'll bear down. I feel so guilty when people talk about how skinny she is...

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I agree with Cami. And the only person that can *make* you feel guilty is YOU. If you know you are offering her the food which she chooses not to eat at that time, then why feel guilty? You're not starving her, you aren't locking her in the dungeon (LoL), you are offering her regular meals and giving her the freedom to choose if she is hungry or not. There are skinny humans too, dogs aren't any different, some are just meant to be skinny. My son's skinny too (human), I don't feel guilty or make excuses when someone says something about him being on the smaller side, he eats, he's offered food (goodness knows we have a houseful), and past that I accepted long ago that he simply is who he is. Your dog is who she is, even if she eats huge meals she may always be skinny. But no reason to pay any attention to folks that have no idea what goes on in your home or with your dog IMO.

Good luck!