feeding 10 month old lab

Halfpass

Halfpass

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You'll be pleased to hear my new dog has now mastered (if you can call flying up it with all 4 legs splayed mastered) the open staircase.
But now we have a new dilema, the feeding of dogs seems to have moved on in leaps and bounds since I last owned a dog 10-12 years ago. When I got him he was on bakers dry food but on advice decided to change this went into local pet food shop and they adviced adult nutro choice also dry. I started off giving him the bakers then was going to gradually introduce the new one but he won't touch either. Went to vet to get flee and worm treatment and he advised Hill science diet for puppies and said he should be on large breed puppy food until at least 1 year old. This is again dry and he won't touch it. He had not eaten for 3 days so I went back to pet shop and bought some tinned food it was butchers puppy food and it says on tin he should be having 7 1/4 tins per day
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. This seems like a huge amount to me, Anyway he gulped this down in 10 seconds flat. So I've come to the conclusion that he does not like the dry food (although he has had it before) but I am totally confused about all the different makes brands adult / puppy feeds. Which in you guys opinion would be best to give him? I've also had a look at the BARF diet which I am quite interested in any more info on that would be great
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Some of those big brands are too rich for a dog, my lot are on beta and are thriving on it, I have a 11 month old pup and she is on the beta large breed puppy.

As for your doggie, ok its taking the P with you, it knows your going to give it something better if it doesnt eat (they are too much like children lol).

It may take a while but honestly this works, set the dry food down, give your dog 15 minutes to eat it, if its not ate, lift it!!! Try again at next meal time, and keep trying until the dog eats it.

It will learn that it has no choice but to eat this food, and that if it doesnt eat within the 15 minutes, it goes without.

Worst thing you can do is leave food sitting out for a dog all day, can turn them into fussy eaters.

I dont believe in tinned meat for dogs, but then thats my opinion, dried food is the best.

When i did the above with my dog, i felt horrible, but it was advised to me via a very good behaviourist, she told me that a dog will never ever starve itself. Your dog may not eat for a day or so, but honestly it does work
 
I tried this but he didn't eat for 3 days. I know thats not a long time for a dog but he literally didn't even sniff it. I gave no treats or extras just put the food down then lifted it about 1/2 hour later. He seems a bit constipated now though. Oh dear i honestly thought a dog would be easier than a horse. How wrong was I!!!!
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I am not a huge fan of dried food as a sole diet for young dogs as it does put a strain on their kidneys, particularly if they don't drink enough. When Morgan was a puppy we left dried kibble down as ad lib feed, then fed her wet food twice a day. After she was spayed we had to stop the ad lib, she just got a bit porky! You could try soaking the dried food to make it more palatable, or use a tinned puppy food. I found the Pedigree one was pretty good, didn't seem to rich and it didn't contain wheat. We also fed James Wellbeloved kibble, again with no wheat.
 
Pedigree chum is just a cheap feed, its been boosted by pedigree offering free food to breeders so they would recommend it!

For a long time I worked as a manageress in a local pet shop, were we had to do several courses, this included dog feeds etc.

Wet food is bad for a dog, it can rot teeth, 90% of tinned meat is made up of water (im serious).

Best time to feed your dog is after walkies, my eldest dog was a fussy eater, i used to heat his dried food up for a short while in the microwave so the smell would attract him to the food.

When you feed him, do not talk to him, if he eats, praise him and give him a treat, if he doesnt, then lift the food (no talking to him) and take it away.

You could add a little bit of tinned food to the dinner and slowly reduce the dose so all hes getting is dried food.

Dried food is better for puppies, it has more in it for growth, digestion, protein, energy etc.

Used to have lhaso apso years ago, fed her nothing but tinned meat (before I knew what was in it) and was shocked when she needed 12 teeth removed!!
 
why don't you mix the dried food with a bit of tinned food and do the tranistion slowly!

Agree with everyone that tinned food is awful for dogs.

Sometimes my dobermann decides that he won't eat his james wellbeloved but i usually cook him some chicken and I have got the special doggie gravy and cut the chicken up finely and add a bit of the doggie gravy (human gravy has too much salt in)

Don't forget your puppy may be teething at the moment and getting his adult teeth and kibble maybe a bit too hard for him.

Good luck!
 
Make up a little bit of gravy (either oxo or bisto) and pour it over the dried food. Put it down, give him 15 minutes to eat it then if not eaten, take it away - he'll probably eat it because of the gravy smell. Then gradually dilute the gravy and reduce the amounts of gravy until he's eating dried food. You don't want him eating too much gravy because of the salt content. I wouldn't ever feed tinned food - why pay for water and lug it home! My picky Beauceron learned to eat what he was given this way. It's unusual for a Lab to be so fussy - they are normally complete dustbins. Make sure he isn't filling up on bread for the birds, or horse poo..... mine does - and is a nightmare on dustbin day!
 
In an ideal world you would not need to lug water home. I feed dried feed once a day and tinned feed once a day after having a dog fed entirely on dried whose kidneys packed up. You can put water down but you cannot make a dog drink it.
 
went to new local feed store and he has given me some food to try. Its called nature diet and is totally organic and chemical free it is a meat but its raw and mixed with brown rice and vegetables. He loved it. Did try adding some of the dried food. Just 3 biscuits and he left them!!!!
 
Have kept dogs for years now and never once had a dog die from eating dried meat, any good nutritionist for dogs will advise dry food over wet anyday.

When my dogs are really fussy, I give them the dried meat, it looks like pork scratchings and smells just as foul lol. Add a little warm water and they are scoffing it down!!

Come the winter they will get porridge in the morning, they like a little bit of jam on it, but they go mental for it
 
My dogs have ad-lib dried food in their bowls 24/7 however they are fed raw meat almost every day too. My dogs are pretty good girls - they don't overeat and they are all in great shape. I buy half cows once a year so we always have a tonne (almost literally LOL!!) of meat in the freezer. I also take the bones so chuck out 10 or so bones for them every couple of weeks.

I don't recall ever feeding my dogs tinned food.
 
We have a 5 month old Lab and he was initially on Nutro and is now (on vet's advice) on Hils Science. He wouldn't eat it dry at first but I just bought some cheap Tesco's value mince, fried some off every couple of days and add a tiny amount to each feed. This made a hige difference and he is now eating it dry.
 
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