Picky Eater, or AM I THE CAUSE?

ok, my year old male (I have posted several times before about his eating habits) Is a picky eater, I have played with several brands and feeding techniques. And finally settled on feeding Innova with some boiled burger and rice mixture. And of course he eats now, not as easily as say my sisters female whom gobbles her food down. But he eats! I have grown to just live with his "finickiness" What does it hurt, right?
THEN I got a female a week ago. When she first cam home, she gobbled up her food, I was relieved she was not going to give me the run around Walk does, then a few days later, it happened! She is being picky!!! I put food in her crate, the bowl is always full by this I mean she never touches it? I tried feeding her 1 cup A.M and 1 cup P.M. as the breeder suggested, at first she would eat it all, now I am lucky if she eats a fourth of it. I keep her on a lead with me at ALL times, so I keep a dish of food with us as we wander, incase she gets hungry. since she really is not eating much......
Am I the one creating the monsters?
Willow came to me as a very healthy solid (I mean solid) girl. She is going to make her conformation debut this summer, I cant have her not eating!
What am I doing wrong? there is no way she could go from a gobbler to a picky pooh?
Could it be the fact her and Walk always have a chew bone, does that tell their brain not to eat? Or does a small amount of Innova really sustain them and fill them up? Its to soon to tell if she is loosing weight!! And Walker is "very healthy" according to my vet.

ALL THOUGHTS ARE WANTED AND APPRICIATED !!! thanks guys!

I forgot to add! today all she ate was maybe 10 kibbles, of a mixture of Innova sm breed pup and Euk. sm breep pup

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Permalink Reply by Kari & Jackson on April 14, 2010 at 2:05am

My pup is almost 6 months and today was the first day EVER that he has not finished all of his food immediately.

I had to leave him, but came back to a bowl with about 1/4 cup still left! I definitely think teething is the culprit, as his canines and molars are cutting right now. He takes a very long time to eat his full portion compared to when he was a puppy.

Hang in there! I'm sure you'll be okay.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Burda on November 9, 2010 at 8:43pm

Gunny has always been a problem eater too, though you wouldn't think that by his size...( he is 6 yrs old). If there is another dog around he will eat what ever is put down, but otherwise it is hit and miss. some days he eats and some days he doesn't. His weight is definitely not suffering so I don't worry when he goes a day without. I give him 1/3 C dry low fat Innova mixed with a few tablespoons of canned California Natural twice a day. If I see that he isn't eating it after maybe 45 min...I will pick it up and put it in frig. He has learned that the sound of aluminum foil tearing means that his food might be getting picked up so he runs to his dish every time he hears that sound...even if his dish is empty.