FUSSY DOG
THE “FUSSY” DOG
I hear this term all the time. It’s often used to describe a dog who does not eat the food put in his bowl everyday.
Firstly, let’s look at that language. Imagine every single meal you ate was the same. Is it ‘fussy’ to want at least a little variety? Dogs are natural foragers after all.
Secondly, let’s look at HOW we are feeding our dogs.
Have you heard the term contra-freeloading?
It’s a fancy term for behaviour observed in captive animals, where when offered the choice of free food or food that requires effort, the animal prefers the food that requires the effort.
It’s believed they do this to fulfil a species specific need. In dogs that’s likely to be sniffing/foraging.
So putting food(that potentially our dog already finds boring) in a bowl isn’t always going to set their brain alight.
Dogs have an intense desire to forage. So If they are not eating what you put down, first try feeding it in a different way:
-scatter feeding
-through training games
-on their walks
-food toys like a Lickimat, Kong, Kong wobbler etc
Sure there are dogs out there that value variety so much they want novel foods often (maybe they’d be the dog that would find a new restaurant and eat out every week - fair play to them)
But a dog needs food to survive. It sustains life.
So, if a dog is being “fussy” and maybe even likes a particular food for a while, then starts to avoid it, it will be for a valid reason (not that they are just being manipulative or holding out for better- dogs just don’t plan ahead like that).
As well as just a genuine dislike of the texture or flavour. It may not be immediately obvious. There could be underlying intolerances, GI issues etc
Look out for
-loose poops
-stinky poops/gas
-bad breath
-dull coat
-yeasty ears and feet
-itchiness
-red skin
-reactivity
-finding other sources of food like digging for roots
-being ravenous
-so many more!
Also a third consideration is have we ‘poisoned’ the value of that food for them?
Maybe by using it to lure them towards something they haven’t enjoyed… like into the bath, towards scary strangers, toward scary dogs, to end their walk, to go into the vet etc
And lastly, those dog that eat “treats” but not the food in their bowl… treats are a human concept. Food is food to a dog. If they like it they will eat it. It’s why they will eat wallaby poop. It tastes nice.
So have a think about those “treats” what is in them that your dogs likes? Can you adapt their food to include that flavour? How are the treats being given? Is it through training or fun times? Is it about enjoyment/foraging etc?
Is it because we as humans have them and therefore the value of that food is higher. Kind of like when one dog has a toy and all the dogs what that Exact toy! Despite there being heaps of toys around.
All of these are considerations we need to look at before we simply label our dog as fussy.
I hope this is helpful in showing there are so many layers to what appears to be a “fussy” dog.
However, a refusal for food should be viewed as really valuable communication from your dog.
