How do you solve a problem like a fussy eater?
A helpful guest blog from Suzi McLennan-Lyon, Director, THE HOUND HUTT / WOOFYS
When you bring your puppy home and start your lives together it can be very daunting, and sometimes stressful, learning their eating habits. When I adopted my first furchild, Pascal, I was stressed to make sure he ate, and ate well. Being a poodle there was an added challenge.
The biggest mistake I (and a lot of well-meaning dog parents) made was to leave his food down for him to graze throughout the day. This, I later learnt, goes against the feeding instincts of a dog, and Pascal started becoming fussy with his food. So then I started to change his food to make sure he ate something, and again I was making the situation worse, and had to keep changing it to get him to eat.
Let’s face it, if I was offered all different kinds of foods including junk food to encourage me to eat, I know I would choose the latter. And if I knew that when I didn’t eat for my mother, she would give me snack food to compensate, then I would just wait it out and get the bad food eventually. This doesn’t make me healthy and doesn’t fuel me well, and this is what we are inadvertently doing to our fussy eating dogs.
There are three main things we are to give to our dogs to ensure they can relax and enjoy being a part of the family - we need to provide them with food, security and boundaries. The easiest one of these to start having control over is food. When I realised that, my life started to change for the better and my relationship with Pascal changed for the better.
The secret to making sure our dogs eat and don't become fussy eaters is to put their food down at breakfast and/or dinner, give him/her 10-15 minutes to eat, then take the food away. Keep doing this and your dog will eat. Dogs are not like us and they won’t starve themselves; when they are hungry they will eat, so don’t give in and substitute with snacks. The only thing you must be super strong about is not giving in to the puppy dog eyes 😊
Now let’s talk about nutrition and taste. There is a myth out there that dogs don’t have a pallet that needs tasty food. They do, and they need food that is balanced and provides them with the nutrition to keep them healthy and happy. When parents come to us with a hyperactive dog, the first thing we ask about is their diets. Like us, too many preservatives and additives can bring on a lot of conditions.
When I was studying dog nutrition, I was horrified to find out some of the things that can be added to our dogs' food. The two that stuck in my mind are road kill and saw dust. From that moment on, I refused to feed my furkids this, and began my search for better alternatives.
Food like Suburban Pup makes our lives and our dogs' lives simpler and better. Knowing that the food is nutritionally balanced and approved by a canine dietitian gives me peace of mind. And because each and every one of Suburban Pup’s servings are made by hand with love, by a business owner who is so passionate about dogs, you can be confident you are doing the best for your dog.
My dogs love their Suburban Pup meals and honestly, they knock me over in the rush to get to their bowls to see which flavour they have today (Piper’s favourite is Beef Rawganics and Finn’s is Turkey in the Raw). Suburban Pup is a breath of nutritional fresh air in our dog’s lives!
With thanks to our guest blogger Suzi McLennan-Lyon, Director, THE HOUND HUTT / WOOFYS
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