[Jordan S.]

I'm so frustrated right now! lol, chicken is so cheap always in the bulk, at the grocery store. Yet Chocolate, who very rarely says no to food only eats in inconsistantly. I remember for a period of time he'd gobble down chicken wings, but the last couple times I'ved taken him outside to give him a leg and grabs it, sets it down on the lawn and is back scratching on the patio door to come inside within a minute or two. I know he knows chicken is edible, any methods. Should I dip it in something, like the juices from canned fish? anyone else had a chicken-hating dog? He tears up beef ribs and pork necks and just is iffy in the chicken.

 

[funshine]

He likes the other stuff better :wink:

Sometimes if Wookie is not hungry enough she might hang around just to see if she could get something else/better than chicken... which she doesn't so chicken goes down after a few minutes "waiting".

 

[DaneMama]

Tough love is the approach that I recommend you doing. You offer the chicken and give her some time to decide to eat it or not. If she does that's great, if not take it up until the next feeding time. Offer her the chicken again and give her about a half hour to eat. If she refuses it again, repeat taking it up and offering it at the next meal time. Do this until she eats it, my guess is that she will catch on and give in.

It sounds to me like she has learned that if she doesn't eat the chicken she gets something she likes more in return. Instead of giving into her and offering something different, give her a few more hours without food to see if she changes her mind if she wants to eat it.

 

[xxshaelxx]

We had to do the tough love approach with Amaya last week. We're doing "nothing in life is free," hand feeding her little pieces and making her work for it because she's had some dominance issues, and she would get so BORED after a few minutes and a few pieces of this that she'd just leave it. So we were, like, "Well, you don't want to eat, then fine." And took it from her. Now she's all about eating it.

 

[Jordan S.]

Thanks guys. The tough love game worked great. :tongue: I oftered him a chicken leg yesterday evening, he licked it a couple times and then trotted back inside, so I took the chicken leg and put it back into the bag in the fridge. I offered it to him this morning, still, a lick, then away he went, so I took up the chicken and put it in the bag in the fridge, this afternoon he finally gave in. He did his usual thing of licking it and asking to come back in, and I locked him outside, his hungriness took over and he started pulling some of the skin off. I left for an hour and came back to find 3/4 of it gone. yay! it's a start.

 

[sal101011]

great approach! at times though, if dogs have bad experiences with a type of food they may not want to eat it unless given the tough love approach. I will give you an example, my dog loves chicken necks, I gave him one, and I totally forgot we had to head to the dog park to meet some friends (my fault) so we left to the park about 10 min after i gave him a chicken neck. Some idiot slammed his breaks in front of me and I had to quickly stop, once we got to the park, my pooch regurgitate his food he consistently neglected chicken necks until I used the tough love approach, I guess he associated the neck with regurgitation.

 

[Jordan S.]

great approach! at times though, if dogs have bad experiences with a type of food they may not want to eat it unless given the tough love approach. I will give you an example, my dog loves chicken necks, I gave him one, and I totally forgot we had to head to the dog park to meet some friends (my fault) so we left to the park about 10 min after i gave him a chicken neck. Some idiot slammed his breaks in front of me and I had to quickly stop, once we got to the park, my pooch regurgitate his food he consistently neglected chicken necks until I used the tough love approach, I guess he associated the neck with regurgitation.

That is EXACTLY what used to happen with chicken, he LOVED it but he'd barf it up. Now when he eats chicken without throwing up, his immune system probably built itself back up since then. Thats probably the reason.

 

[magicre]

when i gave malia, my ten year old ditch dog....chicken - raw, no less....she looked at it like it was alien.
walked around it. licked it once. sniffed it. and then laid down.

i told her she had twenty minutes to eat it...it was a back after all and unless she swallowed it whole, twenty minutes should be long enough.

eventually, i did have to hold it for her....because it was the first time she hadn't had inhalable food, kibble or cooked.

i realised she had no clue what to do with it. it only took her a few days, but it was definitely a realisation that she never had to work to eat.

bubba, on the other hand, swallowed and regurgitated his chicken wing no less than five times...to the point where i have never given him another one.

in reality, i should give him another one because who cares if he swallows and throws it up so he can swallow again....

part of what makes our dogs have issues is us and our own issues. i found that out when i first started and i see it influencing my actions now...i have to let go of preconceived notions and also realise they have transitioned and i can go a little faster...

raw has taught me all about tough love....in the end, though, it's worth it, don't you think?