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Permalink Reply by Kelly on May 4, 2009 at 8:20am

You mean regular kibble, right? Gibson has been on solid dog food since before we got him, I'm guessing around 5 weeks old. We've never softened it.

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Permalink Reply by Maddy & Keke on May 4, 2009 at 8:32am

Yes, kibble. If Gibson can stomach it at 5 wks, then my 'old' gal shld do fine. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on May 4, 2009 at 9:35am

Bertie and Ethel were both eating combo kibble/soft food when I got them at 8-9 weeks, and were on all kibble fairlly soon after that. I think 5 months is fine, too.

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Permalink Reply by Jenna, Jasper and Cersei on May 4, 2009 at 10:06am

Jasper was eating softened dry food mixed with some wet food until he was about 10 weeks. My vet told me that the dry kibble is better for his teeth so I just started giving it to him dry and he had no problem with it...although he never has a problem when it comes to food!

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Permalink Reply by Maddy & Keke on May 6, 2009 at 1:59am

Today I gave her the dry one and she was not that interested :( Took a bite, walk around, took another bite walk somemore. So in the end, I half softened her kibble and she finished it. In between her breakfast and dinner I usually give her some carrots or apple. Maybe she is tired of her kibble?

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Permalink Reply by Patty & Frodo and Crystal CWCs on May 7, 2009 at 2:07pm

Frodo has been on kibble since 4 months of age, when we got him.

My trainer had a pretty hard-nosed attitude about feeding them. She said - barring an actual physical problem or depression - that they'll eat when hungry. She told us NOT to 'spoil' them. She made sure the dog got plenty of exercise, so SHOULD be hungry; then she said, put the food down in the morning for 15 minutes. If he/she won't eat it .. take it away. They get it again at night - for 15 minutes. After a day of dilly-dallying about what he wanted to eat, he changed his mind drastically and started eating the kibble, within the first couple of minutes!

(I must admit that if he's taking too long eating, I down-stay him and give a couple of pieces to the cats. then I shoo them away and release him. After that he eats every single bite!)

However, young dogs do tend to go on and off their food, it seems like. I never had Frodo not-eat for more than a day. Now, there's no problem at all getting him to eat - he'd eat many times a day if we let him. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on May 7, 2009 at 2:17pm

The only issue w/ solid food is hurting your puppy's gums, making them sore, possibly a little cut here or there, and then she might not want to eat a meal or 2 while they're healing. It'll get soaked up and mushy during digestion anyway. I agree with the posts here, puppy gums will usually toughen up fast.

We've never "softened" Eddy's food, ever. We got him at 9 weeks old. We pour hot water on it so it smells yummy, but it's never soft by the time he's gobbled it up. When Eddy refuses to eat his meals for one reason or another, I just give him a spoonful of yogurt, wait til he #2's, and administer the meal again. Always works, but that's just us.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on May 7, 2009 at 2:24pm

At first when Sparty was a puppy we got worried when he did not seem interested in his food so we played games by tossing it to him and moving his bowl around and adding things to make it more appetizing. Suddenly when we hit about 1 year he became food aggressive. I talked to our trainer about it and she said we should have put the food down for 15 minutes and then picked it up. She said he would not starve! To break him of the bad habit we caused she said to bring him half his food in our hands, put it in his bowl and come back with the other half when he started eating. If there was a growl or protective move from him we should put the food away. It took Sparty one day of half rations to decide that our hands in his bowl at meal time was a good thing. He is ten now and is totally trustworthy around food and none of our other corgis ever learned to guard their food from humans. She rescues pit bulls, shepards etc. and said she has never failed to break food aggression in less than three days. I would not worry about a puppy that is healthy if they don't finish every bite. Most dogs are on dry food at couple of months. Sometimes with an elderly or sick dog you need to adjust their food but otherwise don't worry too much.

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