Archive for the tag 'feeding'

Ask the French Bulldog Trainer - Frenchie with Food Issues

admin August 5th, 2008

I am a proud french bulldog owner and live in Bogota, Colombia. There’s not much knowledge here about French Bulldog breeding or behaviour so I hope you or your collegues can help me with this question.

My male puppy is about 6 months old and is extremely picky with his food. Moreover, he has decided since the last couple of months to eat only when I’m not around. I’ve had to change his food several times as I’m unaware if he dislikes the food or if he is just manipulating me. Well, apparently the food is not the issue as he eats really well whenever I’m not around. The problem is that I spend most of the time with him and he has gotten really, really skinny and looks like if he was from another breed or something. I’ve tried every single method that has been suggested to me: leaving his food down for 15 minutes and then picking it up until the next meal, leaving him alone with his food for some time, warming his food, adding water, you name it! He will only eat when he is just extremely hungry and then go for a hunger strike until the next 24 hours or more (this is during weekends). During weekdays someone takes care of him for me and gives him his lunch but my puppy won’t eat at night or in the morning when I’m around. Incredibly enough he won’t even drink water for really long periods, sometimes even for a day. Even when I serve his food and have to bring him to it, he will just walk away.

He was really sick to his stomach when he was 3 months old (3 ulcers, ouch) and I might have placed too much attention on him, so he knows that his stomach problems really worry me. I guess that he is manipulating me and calling my attention by not eating, but simply haven’t found a way to get him to eat. Obviously as he is not eating correctly, he is getting sick constantly as his inmune system is not as it should be. By the way, he is a VERY active dog which makes this behaviour even stranger.

Oh yes, I have never fed him human food of any kind.

What should I do? Have you ever had a Frenchie that shows similar behaviour? Any tips?

All your help would really be appreciated as I am really worried for my puppy.

Hope writes -

At this point your pup’s food issues seem to be more related to behavior than health, so I’m jumping in to answer your question.

I agree that, at this point, it’s not the taste of the food that’s the problem. It’s also not your dog being manipulative. What he is doing is picking up on your stress. Dogs seem to know when their people are tense, his eating makes you tense, so he’s trying to fix it by not eating when you’re around.

I would forget about trying to set a bowl down and have him eat. Instead, make a game and training session out of his mealtimes. I know he will use calories as well as get some, but you’ll both have a better time and stop stressing about his food.

When you want to feed him, put his food in a small bag or bowl, and keep it up where you can reach it. Have your dog perform some obedience exercise or “trick.” Reward him with his kibble - one piece at a time, many pieces for each reward. Have a great time doing it - if he sits, tell him “good sit” and reward. If he lies down, say “good down” and reward. If he watches you, say “good watch” and reward him. Leave the room, call him and say “good come” when he shows up.

Your sessions will have a dual purpose, getting food into him and teaching him new things. Reward him for anything positive he does, ignore behaviors you don’t want. You and your dog will form a strong bond through training, you’ll stop being quite so tense about his food, you’ll have a good time with your dog, and, as an added bonus, you’ll have an extraordinarily well-trained dog, too!

You can teach any behavior you want - just break it down into the smallest possible increments and teach those, in any order. You can put it all together when he’s good at each piece separately. Training sessions should only last five to ten minutes, so be generous with your rewards to get the most food into him that you can.

Relax, have fun and play-train your dog. Please let us know how you do!
Hope

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Ask the Frenchie Geek - How much to feed my French Bulldog?

bullmarketfrogs July 10th, 2008

My question is related to feeding Toby. He is about 131/2 weeks and weighs in at about 8 stock lbs.

I have been doing lots of research related to raw feeding and commercial dog food. I talked to me vet who suggested staying away from raw, but also staying away from commercial. I had him on Eagle Pak, but have now decided to make all of his meals at home.

I want to know everything he eats is natural and healthy. I have a variety of what seem to be good doggie recipes, and he loves them. He eats tuna patties with cottage cheese and veggies, also I make him a boiled chicken stew with whole grain rice and veggies ( no onion or garlic). Also I do give him the occasional  raw meaty marrow bone which he looooves.

My question in how much should he be eating. I give him two large meals a day , and he gets some kibble treats during a few obedience training sessions throughout the day. I have been portioning out his meals to about a heaping cups worth of food during each feeding.

Is this an appropriate amount of food?  I think he is going to be on the larger size as he was the only male and the largest of his litter. The little guy has lots of wrinkles to grow in to.

Any suggestions about diet content and size would be great help.

Carol writes -

I have two dogs, both of them roughly the same age.

Tula, my cream, is a slim, lithe little girl. She eats roughly two cups per day of high calorie, puppy formulated food.

Penelope, my brindle, is a chunky little thing, and prone to chubbiness. She eats one scant cup per day of adult formulated food.

This is by way of saying that, in Frenchies, one size does not equal all, and neither does one set volume of food. You have to adjust your feeding amounts - and your food - to your dog, and not the other way around.

A cup per day is good rule of thumb, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. On a single cup, some dogs will look thin, while others, like Penelope, will look like little round bowling balls. Trust your own judgement - if your dog looks thin, up their volume. If they look like sausages with legs, drop it back a bit, and make up the difference with some green beans (and cut out the snacks).

It’s easier to adjust a home made diet than it is to adjust kibble. We up the fat and protein content (ie; meat and fish and eggs and yoghurt) for slim dogs, and up the vegetable content for the Jenny Craig poster dogs.

There are lots of good books out there on home cooked diets - I personally think that home cooking is easiest done if you base it around a mix that has all the bone meal and extras added in already, like the ones from Sojos or Essex Cottage Farms. With either of these, you can cook, or feed raw.

Your ability to know your own dog is so much better than mine - or even your vet’s - could ever be. Trust yourself, and if you get worried, remember that there are still some good commercial foods on the market.

Carol

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