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Do you ever say...
My dog is a picky eater!

Many people tell me that their dog is a picky eater. The dog doesn't seem terribly interested let alone excited about meal time. Sometimes it is clear the dog doesn't like the food. They would rather have table scraps, or sometimes even nothing at all, in extreme cases.

Certainly first you need to rule out a serious medical condition like a bowel obstruction, poisoning, or other condition that would require immediate veterinary attention. Absent that, rather than considering the dog a picky eater, I think many of them are really being what I call "selective", that is, they are giving you important information about what they think they need (or don't need). Since most dogs don't listen to advertising hype, they usually are not being swayed by it. Photo shows Odie "scanning" his dinner, before eating it. I am now convinced many pets are scanning and checking their food energetically to see if it is good for them (strengthens their energy fields) or not (weakens their energy fields.) Odie would not eat it if he "felt" it would weaken him. The animals feel the energy differences. Humans can too, but most of us have tuned out those more subtle energies. We can, however, relearn them, or do various types of muscle testing or kinesiology, to get the same type of information.

Rather I think they are listening to their body about what it says it needs, and often times, I think it is greater nutrition that they want. Certainly "real food" like meat and veggies has more nutritional value than processed food, like kibble, or even canned dog food. My dogs would "scan" their food, carefully sniffing and checking it out. Given choices, like different kinds of dog food, or even "people food", they will eat that which they need/want most, first. Every dog is different, and certainly there are many variables to be considered. But in my opinion, it's not so different from people and "people food." We know fresh food has more food value (nutrition) than processed food, and some people are more aware and sensitive to their body's needs than others. Some of us eat things that are not healthy for us, even though we know better. But we humans don't usually give our dogs the choices that we give ourselves, so we don't get their side of the story, their opinion about what their body needs.

Think about it. Would you like to eat dry corn flakes for most/all of your life? Don't you think your body would eventually want something else? Aren't our bodies changing, on a daily basis, and therefore our nutritional needs change along with that? Don't we take supplements to help balance our bodies and nutritional needs? Maybe our dogs need the same consideration, for maximum health.

If you would like to find out your dog's opinion, try some food taste tests. Do them three or four times, mixing up the order of the foods. Include what you are now feeding, as one of the choices. We have lots of samples available, if you want to make it interesting, in trying a variety of foods. Video it, if you can. I always gave my dogs credit for at least 50% knowledge of what they need. Listening to my dogs' opinions about what they could and couldn't eat was one of the reasons my dogs lived many years beyond expected lifespans. You might be surprised at what they tell you. Food is one of the easiest factors to change in their lives, and frequently shows results in a relatively short amount of time (days, hours, even minutes). And you can always go back to feeding their current diet, if you don't see beneficial and positive results.

It's a fun and interesting way to get to know your dog better, and may lead to a longer, and higher quality of life, and doesn't cost anything to find out.