I have a 2-month-old puppy that we brought home at 1 month old, and she won’t eat anything except meat, fish, and bones. I’ve been trying to give her dry food but she won’t touch it. I even tried leaving her with nothing but dry food for two days, thinking she’d eventually get hungry and eat it, but no joy. Since she doesn’t eat much anyway—barely a quarter of her bowl and she never finishes it—I started adding meat to her dry food, along with a bit of veg, some rice, a little oil, and occasionally eggs (basically half home-cooked, half dry food) just to get her to eat something. But she always manages to pick through it, eating the meat and leaving the rest. I’ve even tried blitzing the dry food and veg in a blender and mixing it with tiny bits of meat, but it makes no difference; she just picks out the meat and leaves the rest.
The strange thing is that for a puppy who supposedly isn't a big eater, as soon as I start cooking or open the fridge, she gets super excited. She’s also very interested when we sit down to dinner and whines for us to give her something. Since we only have coffee tables, if I leave anything out, she’ll try to nick it—I even caught her licking the butter the other day!
Anyway, we’ve just come back from the vet who told us she’s in great health and that she’s gained about 4.4lbs in a month (I’ve no idea how!). She weighs 11lbs at 2 months and should be around 3 stone 2lbs as an adult.
How can I get her used to dry food? I don’t mind her eating meat, but not just meat and bones on their own.
Translated from French
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It looks beautiful where you live, mmm I can almost smell that tasty dish you're making ;-)
Thanks for the kind words about my girl, I'm so glad if our little adventures can be of help 😁
You know, my mum used to throw out wild rabbits because she was scared of diseases and especially the bones (we all used to think it was really dangerous). Starting raw feeding (BARF) definitely challenged some of my old beliefs 😳
Like "never give bones to dogs" or "only let them have a gnaw and then take it away"...
The dry food mindset was really ingrained, even after I'd been doing home-cooked meals before switching to BARF...
The first time I gave a chicken drumstick to Volka, my Lab, it took me a good few minutes to actually go through with it (I had so many "what ifs"... What if things go wrong? What if she chokes? I even worried she might break a tooth 👎
Volka passed away and went over the Rainbow Bridge with all her teeth in perfect condition at over 14 years old...
I don't do the whole "Prey Model" thing with hares where you give them the fur and all... although that is how you're technically supposed to do it... feeding it whole.
What I'd do is purposely not give her the hare skin, but I'd let her be there while I'm skinning it. I'd tell her to "sit" and "wait", and once she's done that, I'd give her a few bits from my hand. She's strictly forbidden from touching the hare while it's still got its fur on; that meat would only ever be given on command and by hand... never in her food bowl.
As for chickens, I'd start introductions straight away with "leave it" and "stop" exercises...
Things like "stay", the emergency "stop!", and "leave it"—I start those as early as possible (I certainly don't wait until they're 6 months old...)
Lorna
Actually, when it comes to training, we both have a pretty relaxed approach—no bans on the sofa—but it would be brilliant if she knew when it’s time to go to her bed or not to bother the guests while they’re eating. She doesn’t bother us, just them, goodness knows why... Dinner is fine as it’s served on the terrace, but when it’s cold, breakfast is in our living room because we don’t have a proper dining room yet. So, Xena circling the coffee table in the middle of the room isn't ideal.
Feeding her from the table was a massive mistake, I’ll admit. My husband is the one who needs to change his ways there...
I also want to teach her recall; with a sighthound, it’s going to be tricky. I’m going to get some help from the local farmers who know how to handle Sloughis.
Two more photos and then I’m off to play with her—she’s lost her ball and is currently chewing the tent!
We've already set her up with a bed, but she only uses it during the day when the sun’s on it... What’s reassuring is that she already seems quite savvy; when we’re in Marrakech, she doesn’t even try to get on the mother-in-law’s sofas. She must have instinctively realised that it was a no-go. At the vet's, she was an absolute angel, acting like she was good as gold. Here is a little video about a Sloughi’s story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ454EUJ5Fo Anyway, thanks for taking the time to get back to me. I think I’m going to meet halfway with her diet—half BARF, half leftovers and cooked food—and just do the best I can with what we can find.
I loved it, thanks! :-)
What I find particularly brilliant when I watch people working with their dogs in languages I don’t understand, is seeing how, instinctively, we use the same sounds and intonations all over the world to communicate with dogs.
When I’m motivating my dog for a target or a specific task, I make exactly the same noises :-)
We’ve already got a bed for her, but she only uses it during the day when the sun is on it...
What’s reassuring is that she seems quite bright already; when we’re in Marrakesh, she doesn’t even try to climb onto my mother-in-law’s sofas. She must have instinctively realised it was a complete no-go. At the vet’s, she was an absolute angel, acting like a proper little "good girl".
Here’s a short video about a Sloughi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ454EUJ5Fo
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to get back to me. I think I’ll meet halfway with her diet—half BARF, half leftovers and cooked food—and just do the best I can with what’s available.
Doudou,
I’ve been following your adventures with Oxane on the forum; to be honest, it’s been a real help because Xena used to wake us up by jumping on us and nipping all the time. We don't call her a raptor, but a crocodile! Like Oxane, she’s calmed down in the mornings; she licks me now and doesn’t wake me up by biting my hair. That's progress. Mind you, she still has her moments every day where she gets a bit nippy, but we redirect her to a toy. It was lovely reading Oxane's story, it feels like we know her.
I also think Xena might be capable of going on a hunger strike like Fidji, so I’ll probably give up on the dry food. I’m going to take a look at the links you sent. You’re likely right, she’ll either have that hunting instinct or she won’t, so giving her raw meat won’t change much. We’re going to get some chickens too, so it would be great if she got on with them! And as Lorna said, these aren't dogs that naturally kill their prey, they just chase them... We’ll see how it goes.
It would be great if she brought us back a rabbit or a hare; would it be wrong to eat them in that case? Like your mum who used to throw them away? There’s no risk to pet rabbits as they don’t exist around here, but hare is actually really tasty—sorry to the vegetarians out there, but I thought we might be able to eat them...
Great news about the honey, there’s plenty of it here.
It’ll be lamb, goat, and mutton; beef is a bit pricey, and there’s no duck—honestly, if I found any, I’d keep it for myself!
Offal is easy to find here; she eats a lot of tripe and liver.
As for grains—rice, barley, and wheat are easy to get, as are oats... but there’s no buckwheat, amaranth, or rye. Regarding butter, we don’t have Ghee, we have Moroccan fermented butter; I’m not sure if I can give her any of that.
I’m not worried about her eating like a horse, she already regulates herself so I don't think it'll be a problem.
When it comes to training, you and Lorna seem like experts, whereas we’re total newbies just doing our best. We don't want to ban her from the bedroom or the sofas, we just want her to listen to us and sleep in her own bed. We don't mind her being in our room, just not in between us! I must admit, she does keep me warm and sleeping with her is lovely, but we really need to get on top of that as soon as possible.
