Fussy sod!

Lintel

Lintel

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That's GSD pup now 11 months old.. how times flies.
The skirting board chewing seems to have subsided and we are in the process of building him a big run outside for when we are leaving him for a couple of hours.
The snorting odd behaviour we believe must have been hayfever it to has subsided mostly.
So thank you all for your help on these issues!
NEXT.
He is so fussy. Honestly I am struggling.
OH is wanting to feed him once a day and of he doesn't eat it then he doesn't get anything else. Just now he is on twice day 500g raw with a tin or "aldi crap" mixed in to try and get him to blooming eat it!! We are also slowly introducing his dry again in the hope of being about to leave this out as he is a "picker". He has lost a couple of kg in weight and I wouldn't be keen on him losing much more- any advice would be much appreciated! -there also doesn't appear to be anything medically wrong- and he is more than happy to eat the cats food or ours!

Here is the sod himself .... and the food bowl!
 
He looks a good weight and dogs don't tend to starve themselves. He'll eat when he's hungry. The more choice and options you give him, the more picky he is likely to become.
And to be honest that sounds like quite a lot of food.
 
My terrier went up to three days without eating ANYTHING at that age. I just offered him the same food until he ate it. He never looked like a rescue case and there was nothing wrong with him. Vet told me many teenage dogs go through anorexic phases but not too worry if dog otherwise hale and hearty!
 
yes recently had terrier who has never been a good eater, went two weeks literally picking at it, hardly any food went in !

Silly I know, but changed his bowl to a pot one, rather than tin. currently eating fairly well, but not cleaning up, I don't leave food down, he will get hungry in the end

I did take him to the vet where he was pronounced fine ! he's just thin I think
 
Thanks all... I do realise he is not quite an sspca case but I worry at this age about his joints not getting what they need to develop correctly. I suppose I am overthinking really!!
 
I tend to run young dogs light for the sake of their joints, I keep all my dogs fit and lean.
I think food that's left down amd exposed to the air tends to lose flavour, smell and appeal.
Choose what you want to feed and offer a small amount, if it's all eaten offer a larger portion at the next routine meal time, once you are up to what the dig should be eating at each meal leave it for 20 mins and take any left over food away.
Are you feeding too much as that does seem a huge amount to be feeding.
Eta all mine have gone through phases of not eating when they were maturing, I think it's fairly normal.
 
Just to clarify , is that 500 g twice a day ? Seems like a lot , my adult bitches are on 475 g a day plus a handful of kibble for breakfast . Don't leave his food down , offer and if he hasn't eaten within 15 minutes take it away . And don't change his diet too much , he will become more fussy . As CC says , he looks a good weight , what does he actually weigh ?
 
For guidance, my two male GSDs are 30kg (below average height, about 61cm) and 35kg (normal height, about 64cm) and get three cups of dry food a day, each, sometimes two, depending on workload, if they've not done much I cut one feed.

ETA I've just done an image search for the measuring cup I use, so mine would get around 900g on a work day and 600g on a light day.
 
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my GSD is around 40kg and getting 1kg raw a day. (plus half a mackeral). I may cut back slightly soon. Mine adores it. Things I can think of it try more meals but smaller. It may not be needed but mine still gets 4 meals a day at 8.5 months. What make of raw is it? I have come across some raw meat that really is not very nice. Have you tried hand feeding to encourage him (put a plastic glove on and use it to play training games) or change the make. Mine gets one bone meal a day. Have you tried this? Our supplier, The dog's butcher, do goat bones and lamb spine/ribs. We just throw him a bone and he goes away and enjoys it on his own. Same with half a mackeral or a couple of sardines.
 
I still want to come and live at your house lol!

Raw is a bit pants for hand feeding but you raise a good point...if feeding out of a bowl, a lot of dogs prefer to be left alone to get on with it. Standing close and checking (and taking pics) can be felt as pressure.

One of mine went through a phase of not starting to eat until I'd closed the kennel door and gone away, his was more of a 'respect ma authoritah!' thing :p
 
I would try cutting back to one feed a day, my present dog, a kelpie decided for himself to stop eating breakfast at about 10 months, he always ate his evening feed fine so I just increased that and he was fine.
 
CorvusCorax said:
I still want to come and live at your house lol!

Raw is a bit pants for hand feeding but you raise a good point...if feeding out of a bowl, a lot of dogs prefer to be left alone to get on with it. Standing close and checking (and taking pics) can be felt as pressure.

One of mine went through a phase of not starting to eat until I'd closed the kennel door and gone away, his was more of a 'respect ma authoritah!' thing :p
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but are you a GSD, a cat or a horse???? this is the question. If not then I am afraid human grub doesn't measure up to the animals. We are off to The dog's butcher tomorrow. Merlyn will have £70 of raw meat spent on him. OH will get a cup of coffee. Some are more equal than others here!

Raw is definitely pants for hand feeding but I nick the plastic gloves from filling stations.
 
I gave up after forgetting about the remains of the raw chicken mince in my training jacket pocket for three days.

A friend in America used to track with raw mince on a dirt field, most of it would get carried away by fire ants.
 
CorvusCorax said:
A friend in America used to track with raw mince on a dirt field, most of it would get carried away by fire ants.
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Poor dog if it picked up a bit with the ants still on it!
A friend recently couldn't work out the horrible smell in her kitchen - it was a dead partridge in her OH's jacket pocket. :-) (He is a gamekeeper).
 
My guess is he's fat and getting overfed. I absoloutely dont tempt - I put down their food and take it up if not eaten (not a problem in my house as puppies all learn if they dont eat it doesnt hang around!) unless they are really skinny.
I'd cut out the raw, offer him dry kibble of a suitable quality (barking heads fusspot is good) and unless he hasn't eaten a bit for 2-3 days I'd be pleased I was spending less and had a thinner dog :)
 
He is looking good Lintel! What is his weight? My male GSDs (10 and 7 years) are 38kg and 39kg. I would try not to pander to him. Put his food down, if he doesn't eat within 15-20 minutes then pick it up again and don't feed him anything else until his next meal time. Are you using treats for training? If so, try replacing the treats with his daily ration of food (easier if kibble) and make him work for his tea.
 
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