I have a 15 week old male who is just not into his kibble. No change in food, time of eating or any extras added to the kibble. He's eating twice a day now. I've tried picking it up after 5 minutes and not feeding him until his next scheduled feeding but it makes no difference. He goes into his crate, I set down the food, close the door and he just stares at the bowl. He will finally lay down to start eating and after a minute or two will get up and walk as far away from the bowl as possible and sit, sometimes whine. Eventually he will head back to the bowl and take a few bites but this continues on until he finally finishes- usually within 10 minutes but sometimes he doesn't finish at all. I've tried reducing the amount I'm feeding but that makes no difference.

I know as long as he's otherwise acting normally and growing at a steady pace I shouldn't worry, but is there ANY way to get him to eat with a little enthusiasm??? It's frustrating to say the least. Of course while visiting his littermates he ate without hesitation. He is the only dog in our house so the competition is not there.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Have you tried adding a little warm water to his kibble? If that doesn't work I would try a spoonful of canned mixed in.

That would be worrying for a Labrador and could possibly indicated that he isn't well!

Maybe the kibble is off? Have you tried him on something else? What does his breeder feed?


Maybe it's the bowl. If it's a metal bowl and his tags bang against it, perhaps it's that or maybe it has an odd smell to him.

Maybe he doesn't like kibble and would prefer something of higher quality?

Actually, I'll place bets on the fact that the dog is teething. My dogs are slow/picky eaters during the teething stage. Once the teeth are out/in all goes back to normal.

I have a male like this who is almost 2 years old and he still goes through his phases. The most recent was when his mom was in heat-that was kind of a given. But ever since I started him on solid food, it was just not a big deal for him. When he was on his own, he would have days where he'd eat like a pig and others like a bird. It is very frustrating. He didn't starve but he also didn't grow as I would have liked. He's super slow to mature and maybe that's just his lines too. I tend to like to push my puppies a bit. He's a pretty boy so I've sat on him and just let him eat how he wants to. Right now he's eating again and putting on weight again. I just took a melancholy approached to it after a while. He eats or he doesn't. No sense in getting all upset over it. He's not starving. LOL

I add warm water to his kibble every meal so no luck with that. I've been feeding what his breeder feeds and he doesn't wear his collar or tags inside the house so no clanging against the bowl either.

He is definitely teething- in fact lost two teeth this week. My husband and I tried to remember when he started becoming picky and guess it was probably around 3 weeks ago. Some days he is better and some days he is worse but he's eating at least 3 cups a day, 4 cups on his better days. Hopefully this is related to his teething and will get better as he gets older- otherwise I have one of those "mutant" Labs who isn't a garbage disposal

My pups go through a phase like this too - usually when teething. I just give them a teaspoon of canned food and mix it in the kibble with a bit of warm water.

Teething. I worn all my puppy familys that at 16 weeks it will most likely happen. Once in a while it does not, some are just a few days, some last longer. Bet most of his teeth are gone. It happens. Wet food or not.

One of mine was like that. I finally, after trying all the above suggestions, changed his food to BlueBuffalo. He eats it happily and no more stress at mealtime, fretting over whether he will eat. I really think he just didn't like the food I was giving him.

You might try adding half a jar of chicken and gravy baby food (either beachnut or gerber). Add a little bit of warm water to make it easier to mix into the food. I have a picky eater and have tried just about everything, this seems to work best with him. Most likely is due to teething, but it might not hurt to have your vet go over him and make sure there is not another reason.

I would prefer not to add anything to the kibble other than water as I'm sure he would begin to expect it with every meal. I'd also prefer to keep him on the same kibble as his coat and overall condition are wonderful. I wonder how much of it is teething and how much of it is him holding out for something "better." When I let him out of the crate after picking up his bowl, he heads straight into the kitchen sniffing the air as if he's looking for something tastier.

I'm hoping he will grow out of it!!

That sounds sad. It sounds as if you know there is something better out there and he won't be getting it - poor pup :-(

I tried to post this earlier, so it could appear again. Why not try letting him eat in the kitchen? Maybe he feels trapped eating in the crate. I know some people feed in crates and I can see the point with lots of dogs. Our dogs all eat on the porch and know their places. They eat so fast they don't chew it, so teeth or no teeth doesn't matter to them. I have to put water in the bowls so they won't choke on the dry kibble. I would give it a try and see what happens. My sisters dog will let the food sit in the bowl all day until she comes home and then she will eat it.

We were feeding him in the kitchen when the problem started. He was eating one night and not even half way through his bowl, walked away and started playing with his toys like his food just wasn't interesting to him anymore. It's been that way ever since. Granted he was never a fast eater from the start. Always slow and steady but he would always finish. I've tried feeding him in the kitchen multiple times and every time he wanders off to play or just wander. The crate is the only way he will eat even a portion of his kibble.

When my puppies are teething, I go back to softening the kibble in water like I did when weaning, not just water on the top, but soak the kibble (15 minutes or more) so it is saturated. Hard crunchy food hurt their gums when they are teething.

Good luck, in a few weeks you will wonder where he is putting that 6 cups of food a day you will be feeding him!

*UPDATE*

Well, after not eating his kibble this morning I stuck it in the fridge to wait until dinner tonight. It was thoroughly soaked and soft. And I am happy to report that the pup ate every single kibble in less than 2 minutes!!! I even gave him another half cup that I soaked for about 15 minutes and he gobbled that down as well. So either he was simply hungry enough to finally eat it or soaking it did the trick. I'm leaning towards the soaking. If he eats like this again in the morning then I will know for sure. I'll keep you all posted

Sounds like a little bit of good news. Can I ask what kibble your feeding him?