I've been trying to switch my 1 year old GSD over to the raw diet, but he has always been a very picky eater. I've always struggled to get him to eat dry food, and I'm sure he doesn't eat enough dry food for his body weight, about 1.5-2.5 cups of dry food and 1 can of wet food per day (I have to mix it or he won't eat it at all). When I first gave him raw ground beef, he was really into it, ate it all up, same with ground turkey. He LOVES raw eggs, especially the shells. However, He won't eat anything else, if I try to mix chopped up boneless ribs with his beef, he will eat the ground beef and spit out the ribs, he does the same thing with any chicken/turkey parts that contain bones, and isn't too keen on the meat either if I chop it up and take out the bones. His enthusiasm for ground beef and turkey is also diminishing, but he will eat it if I spend time with him, like holding up small pieces of beef in my hand till he gets a taste for it n decides to eat it from the bowl. If I mix in too much veggie pulp he won't eat it either.

Currently I give him 1.3lbs of raw ground beef/turkey 4 times a week for breakfast, with various vitamins and oils mixed in, the other 3 days of breakfast I give him a cup of dry food with half a can of wet food (nutro large breed puppy food), he either won't eat it at all or he'll eat 1/2 to 3/4 of it. Then in the evenings I give him another cup of dry food with the other half of the can, if he eats it all (not very often but it happens), I'll try and give him another cup of dry food and half a can, 9 out of 10 times he'll ignore the second bowl of food. I've started adding a raw egg w/shell to his dry/canned food mix at night 4 times a week to get him to eat more of his food, it works, to some extent. He seems to get bored of foods after he's used to getting it regularly.

I haven't fully switched him over to the raw diet because he won't eat everything that he's supposed to, so I'm concerned that he's not getting everything he needs if the only thing he'll eat is the ground beef/turkey.

He's 1 year old and 65.5lbs, the vet says GSD's reach full weight at 10-12 months, but he's never eaten as much as I would expect from him so I wouldn't be surprised if it's significantly slowed down his growth rate. I've heard from many people that GSD's don't start bulking up till 18-36 months. Either that, or I just have a small dog. There is NO WAY he will eat the 5-10% of his body weight that Ed states in his article on the raw diet - 2% of his body weight is closer to accurate.

Anyone have any advice for a picky eater? He doesn't seem skinny, n when he's hungry he will eat, so I don't think he's unhealthy, but I'd like to switch him to a raw diet completely - which I'm not comfortable doing when he won't eat anything but ground beef/turkey.

My GSD is now three years old and she is what I would consider a picky eater...she also has an extremely sensitive stomach. She weighs exactly 61 lbs (know this because I had to drop her off at the vet for a minor surgery this morning...) She eats Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul along with fresh (cooked) meats, cottage cheese or yogurt, and supplements. The supplements she gets are Berte's Immune Blend & Berte's Green Blend (available at B-naturals.com) She also doesn't eat very much...ususally about 2.5 - 3 cups per day of the kibble.

I have expressed my concerns with my vet, who told me that as long as she is not having episodes of vomiting or diarrhea that I should not worry.

Also, something I have worried about is the fact that she looks thin. Well, after doing some research of her pedigree, I can see exactly where she got it. She is out of Czech lines and I did not know much about them until lately. When I got her, I was looking for German working lines so that was my area of research. She is lean and muscular IMO...not what everyone is used to around here as we mostly see fat American GSDs!

Anyways, enough rambling from me...just wanted you to know that I know what you are going through!

Melissa, would you care to enlighten me on the differences between Czech lines and German lines? My pup's parents were imported from Hungary so I am guessing that odds are he is also from Czech lines, seeing that Hungary is right next door. People comment on how he has a much "stockier" build than their GSD (I assume most people are referring to their American GSD's in which case I already know the difference), but was wondering if there's a difference between German and Czech lines.

I get comments all the time about how skinny he looks, and how I don't feed him enough blah blah blah, it gets highly annoying, I don't want a fat dog, all I see is people bragging about their fat 110lb GSD's "yeah he's big, he's 110lbs". I love dobermans too, but all I see around here are sausage dogs with long legs that they called Dobermans. I can see a hint of ribs, that is the way I was always taught to recognize a healthy dog.

Mike - as for Czech dogs, there is a section of this site regarding them. Just go to the main index and scroll down until you get to the section (it's listed with other breeds) There is a ton of information there!

And I know what you mean about the comments on how thin your dog is...I get them often. It doesn't help that my dog is a sable and it makes her ribs stand out even more. I also get "is your dog a purebred german shepherd?" That one pisses me off even more!! I just want to tell them off so badly but I hold back <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I have a picky eater also. I have found that no dog will willingly starve themselves to death. If I encourage her to eat, it just makes her more picky.

What worked for me was to reduce rations by 1/2 for a few days (don't worry, you aren't starving them, just not giving extras beyond maintainance.) Then I up the exercise. I put food down matter of a factly, and remove any that is left, or refuses. In a few days, there is a noticible improvement in attitude to anything I put down.

I don't push it tho; pig trotters are out, she won't eat those, and it isn't an issue.

Another thing that helped her transition to bones was to grind the bones, the smash them to a pulp, then slightly crush them, then feed whole. Of course, this leads to all sorts of jokes from the hubby about the hitchhiker I picked up last week, the guy who cut me off the other day, and the missing neighbors. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Every once in while I have to repeat the ration reduction, just to keep her perspective proper about food.

I totally agree with what melissa said. The more you try to goody up her food, the pickier she gets. I would do exactly what she suggested and she'll change her bad habits real fast. A hungry dog is not a picky dog. I'm sure you'll see an improvement within a week.

Thanks guys, I'll give that a shot and see how he does. I must admit I hadn't been too strict on the 20-minute rule up until recently, so I'm sure he's very aware that there's usually food around if he's hungry at a time other than feeding time.

Also can someone post a link or something to the info on Czech bloodlines, I think I'm going blind, I spent the last 20 mins or so trying to find it but can't seem to see anything on it. Thanks!

Oops I just realized you meant Main Index on the forum not the leerburg website <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Found it!