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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on October 14, 2009 at 3:14pm

If you have a strong desire to make your own dog food, fine. But, if you don't just make sure you are offering her a good quality food and she is healthy and ignore her pickyness. She will get over it after she has missed a meal or two. She may be experiencing growth plateaus and not be that hungry. You really only get a picky eater if you reward it unless the dog is old or ill.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe'sMom on October 14, 2009 at 4:46pm

Thank you, Bev. I appreciate your input.

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Permalink Reply by Judi, Dawn, Soffie & Griffyn on October 14, 2009 at 9:01pm

Bev makes a good point and sound advice. We thought about making our own food (briefly) and deciced against it because we thought it would be too difficult when travelling etc... being in motels and what not. So in the end we opted for a good quality dry food. Which worked well for all of us! Here's a good website to check out for quality dog food. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

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Permalink Reply by Beth on October 14, 2009 at 9:46pm

If you are really interested in making your own food, that's great. For us, we like to travel and our dogs get boarded. They need to eat what is put in the bowl in front of them. I agree picky eaters tend to be made, not born. She might also be getting too much food; a growing Corgi probably needs only about one-and-a-half cups of high-quality food a day, over three feedings. A Corgi who has reached maturity typically needs between 2/3 and one-and-a-quarter cups, depending on activity. While many Corgis will eat til they pop, some dogs are those blessed self-regulators who won't eat if they are not hungry.

My parents' Chessie is in heavy work (hunts, runs, swims, retrieves about 4 days a week and leash walks the other days) and in the summer when it's warm she will fairly regularly skip a meal altogether, or only nibble.

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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on October 14, 2009 at 10:03pm

I briefly thought doing a homemade raw diet for the health benefits but decided against it due to cost, travel, etc. I have, however, started mixing a dehydrated raw food into their kibble and they LOVE it! The kind I get is called Honest Kitchen (the Embark recipe). I mix it with Flint River Ranch Lamb and Millet dry and my dogs are happy and healthy! The Honest Kitchen stuff is a bit pricy, but that's why I only feed it as about 25% of the diet. You also have to rember that since it is dehydrated, a box makes 3 to 4 times the amount of food once you add water.

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Permalink Reply by Nicole, Stanley and STELLA! on October 14, 2009 at 11:41pm

Do you supplement the dog food with anything? Maybe if you made something and supplemented for one meal or once in a while, you can keep her from getting bored, AND you keep her used to a dog food that she can eat when traveling, being boarded, etc. I make Stella chicken stew with boiled chicken, brown rice, and a vegetable (usually green beans, peas, or sweet potato), and she usually gets it for one meal a day or at least once every two days. I also mix cottage cheese or plain yogurt in her food every once in a while. Sometimes, I just mix in the veggies that were in the chicken broth. Maybe this would be easier? Stella's the opposite of a picky eater, though, so I don't have personal experience with that, but it might keep Zoe interested.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe'sMom on October 15, 2009 at 5:52am

Thank you all for your very helpful information!!

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