this is not to scare the op this is to aid..

You should have met a dog i had then, he was so much of a picky eater that for weeks the only thing he would eat was tinned meatballs ( i got him from the age of about 3/4 years old and was already fussy ) then he would go off that and wouldn't eat for weeks at a time in the end the vets took him in and done tests which where all fine and then got him eating tuna so we brought him home but yet again after a few week he would stop eating it and this went on for well over a year back to vets eating stopped back to vets etc etc in the end he ended up losing all his body weight as we couldn't get him to eat anything nor could the vets, they had him on a constant drip (which he kept ripping out ) but he lost sooo much weight that he became ill and had to be PTS at the vets recomendation so yeah they dont generally starve themselves but it has been known. i contacted the owners who i got him from and told them what had gone on and all they kept saying was it was my fault if id have gave him a different food to eat every other day he'd have been fine, turned out from a very young puppy he done the picky stage and they just kept changing his food every time he turned his nose up at it. so i asked what they ment by different foods and asked what they had fed him and got told he had been getting whatever he wanted from tinned dog food to a full sunday roast.

what ever you do don't give in and change foods unless you really have to stick with it and time he/she will eat

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Cheers for the reply guys. There is some good news - last night she wolfed down her entire evening meal!

However, she's decided again, not to eat breakfast.

(BTW Sorry, had this pegged as toddler stage as 9 months on is grumpy teenager stage, or so I've been told)

The hand feeding literally happened once, and was a diagnostic to see if she was completely refusing food. When she took the first mouthful that was it. It hasn't been repeated, and won't be, don't worry.

The refusal to eat began with Thursday night's meal last week, and she was taken to the vets the next day, so she's not gone for days without food prior to her first appointment with the vet. I hope this allays some of your fears, Rona - though I too share the worries of what will happen if this continues. As a paranoid parent I tend to rush her straight to the vets, even though so far they've just told me what I already thought - however, when a dog stops eating I'm not one to arrogantly self diagnose her, as I don't want any harm to come to her from my being wrong. Believe me, the thought of a developing pup not getting her full nutrition scares the hell out of me.

Her feeding ritual is 150g 3 times a day, which is put down for 15-20 minutes, then taken away. Her kibble is 'CSJ natural little champ' - a high quality pup food which she's been on since before I got her. In the interests of giving my pup the very best start in life, I'm very conscious of what I feed her, even treat wise.

At the mintue I'm soaking her kibble in gravy/water and marmite. I'll give mixing her kibble with good wet food a try, if you reckon it's a way forward. Cheers.

Her training is equally short and playful, with lots of reward encouragement. She's crossed with Malamute and Rough Collie, and the Collie side has come out a lot in training, but I'm trying not to push it too much. In fact, she's been coming on fairly good so far.

I leave her alone for around 30 minutes a day, to try and make sure she doesn't have seperation anxiety - this will increase a bit as she gets older.

Thank you again for the replies, and I'll take it all on board.

BTW Troublestrouble - Does Trouble have a sister called Strife? I only ask, because I know a Strife who had a sibling called Trouble - and I had the pleasure of meeting that Trouble when they came and stayed the night at my house once.

Rupert was a terrible eater for 7 of the 8 years I had him, he only started eating well when switched to raw. I actually found making him work for his food got him eating better than feeding him from a bowl. So I started using his daily ration of food for training treats. Some days he'd work for all his food, other days he'd work for a couple of handfuls and get the rest in a bowl or Kong.

Initially I tried changing foods but he went off each one after a few days. I also found the more I "dressed up" his food with nice things the pickier he got. So in the end I picked one food and stuck to it. It would be put down, 20 minutes later I'd pick it up. I had some success with it but he never seemed to enjoy his meals although he enthusiastically worked for the same food in a clicker session

hehe, no, our little one is called Stark, the man wouldn't let me call her Strife, I did ask but he put his foot down on that one

sounds like youre doing just fine with your pup, just don't panic quite so such, stay strong

Our Bella was the same, she never showed enthusiasm about her meals, until I changed her over to wet food. She goes mental for wet and ignores completely the rest. Some dogs just don't like dry food and I don't blame them, it is boring and in my opinion it's made for our comfort so that it is easier to store. It doesn't even have dental benefits as some people might believe. Try wet and see how she gets on, your dog is young and in development stage, it needs to get good amounts of quality food with the best possible nutrition. Bella is on WW turkey and rise and she jumps for every meal and licks her bowl clean. Her food is gone in 10 seconds.

Kibble, what is it? Brown, boring, same taste in every mouthful food for dogs.

Can you imagine being given the same meal every single day of your life without any variety? You'd struggle to face eating it after a while.

Try mixing in a tin of wet with it or some tinned sardines or just out your table scraps in it, pour on some boiling water and let the flavours of the table scraps penetrate the kibble and add something a bit more interesting.

CSJ Little CHamp has gluten products in it. Your dog "could" be gluten intollerant as it just isn't palatable to a dog's physiology. Try a gluten free one for a bit from CSJ or just try adding variety to teh dog's meals and make it interesting for them too.

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update. To all of you who recommended mixing up Cadagan's kibble with wet food a massive THANK YOU!

I gave her breakfast to her today mixed in with Nature's Harvest, and she's absolutely wolfed it down - literally chasing her bowl around the kitchen floor.

I'm so relieved, we can get on with the whole business of growing up healthily now, and the training can get back on track.

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As I said, kibble is boooooooooooooring. It's like you and I eating porridge for the rest fo our lives - it'll keep us alive to an extent but boy would you yearn for a drizzle of honey on it once in a while or a full roast dinner

Glad that has worked.

If you have any trouble, another idea is using the dinner as the treats for training, which makes him more motivated for the food...

Obviously it's not always a long term solution, but can work. Also means they don't eat the food too fast! Or get a kong or something that dispenses it in a fun way?