Ok, so I am raising a puppy, there were two in the litter. A friend is raising the other and I think she's going to keep her. They were weaned naturally and nursed normally off their mother. They will be between 45-50 pounds as adults. They were born 12/14/2011.

The pup I have here is strange. I can almost understand low food drive which makes training a little more difficult - not impossible, since he loves to play. But, I noticed that he has a variable appetite. One morning, he may eat everything. That night, nibble a bit. THe next morning, he'll sniff his food and lay down next to it. He might eat some that night, etc. This has been going on for weeks. He is smaller than his sister (who is a absolute glutton), but not skinny. I place his food down in his crate with him and walk away. I refuse to play eating games. He completly ignores treats, even if I cup his muzzle in my hand with the treat up against his nose.

THe vet can find nothing wrong, he is cheerful, very playful and active. He is docile and easy in the house and goes right in his crate any time I ask and settles right away, only complaining if he needs outside.

He will make someone an awesome sweet companion. I guess I am just worried because I am so used to bottomless pit gluttony food vaccums.
Should I worry? He is growing and seems to be holding his weight well. No parasites, etc. Eyes bright, nose clean, coat nice, etc.

Oh, he is being fed Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul with ground beef chicken or turkey mixed and the whole mess soaked in warm water. Mornings, I add 500 mg Vit.C, Vit E and fish oil. Stools are normal logs.
Ideas?

You will get some more replies from more experienced posters, but I can tell you what worked for me.
A little background; when I adopted my dog, she had similar eating patterns, and sometimes she would go 24 hours without eating. I was leaving food out all of the time. Not long afterwards, my work schedule changed to a regular day schedule, and was worried when she wouldn't eat when before I went to work in the morning.
I learned, through my exposure to Leerburg, that it wasn't abnormal for a dog to fast for long periods and then gorge. I also learned that there were three steps to change this. First was to pick up the food in 15 minutes if she didn't eat; to teach her that she ate on my schedule, not whenever she wanted. The second thing I had to do was to reduce the size of the portions. The third step (and much harder one to swallow) was to make her a hungry dog. I know you won't like the idea, but a healthy dog will not starve to death in 24 hours.
My dog now eats twice a day, and is begging for the food when that time comes. Also, through this process I have learned that my dog maintains her weight, health, and appetite on about half of the amount of food that I thought she needed.

Thank you, Duane.

I know he won't starve to death. I'm one of those 'mean moms' I even raised my kids with the thought that a healthy mammal will not starve itself with good food in front of it. I just think it's weird that a small, young pup would be so willing to not eat.
I guess I could skip tonight's meal altogether and see what he does in the morning.

Hi Lisa!

Drift is one of those dogs that could care less about food. When she was a pup, she would go days without eating anything. She always maintained her weight, was never overly skinny, and never had parasites or anything.

She did not like variety- changing up her food choices would just throw her for a loop. Four years later nothing has really changed, I just learned her quirks. She hates turkey and won't touch it. Chicken quarters she will eat only if I cut the drumstick and thigh apart. She prefers lean hamburger to the fatty kind (she'll eat the fatty kind only if I heat it in the microwave first). And there are still days when she just doesn't want to eat- which is fine, I pick up the food and offer it to her the next day, and she will usually eat it then.

I don't worry about it anymore- though when she was a pup, it freaked me out plenty.

It's harder to train a dog with low food drive, but you never have to worry about them being overweight

--Kel

Thank you for that, Kelly. If it worked for Drift, it works for me. I'll just watch to make sure I don't see ribs and wait to worry if I do.

It's nice having a dog that self-regulates. I've never had that before.

I had a DS names Ali who was a quirky eater too. What ended up working for us was to do exactly what Duane said. Also what made her more consistent in eating was to vary the amount of food with each meal. I also randomly fasted her for one meal about 2x per week. She GAINED weight with this regime and looked really good, from being slightly thin before.

I made an intersting observation last night. Solly prefers his kibble unsoaked. He left his bowl of lovingly prepared soaked kibble and broke into the container of dry kibble and ate quite a bit. Brat, smart little bugger, he is. So, this morning, as an experiment, I fed his food dry. He ate every crumb.

Is it safe to feed dry kibble? I have always soaked it in the past for everyone. His breed is not known for bloat and I am careful about exercising on an empty tummy and not feeding right after exercising.

He will still continue to get raw food and bones, as well, so the clean teeth issue won't be an issue - right?

I know of no safety issues feeding dry kibble, per se. I assumed most people fed it dry.

I believe that feeding kibble and fresh raw food can be a problem. This is because they digest at different rates. Raw food should pass through the digestive tract faster than kibble. This reduces the time that the dog's intestines are exposed to any organisms that may be present in the raw food.

What about a treat dispensing toy filled with kibble? My friend's Pom is a picky eater, but loves to clear out my dog's "Everlasting Fire Plug" if we load it up with kibble for her