Naughty Puppy Thursday: Picky Eater

This week, Chester has decided he no longer likes his Orijen food. When it's time to eat, he'll sit while he waits for his food bowl, walk over, sniff it, and then walk away. He'll do this a few times until we finally coax him into eating it. I know there's nothing wrong with him because he will eventually, and begrudgingly, eat his Orijen. This has been his favorite food since November, so we were surprised by his sudden disdain for it.

He pulled this same routine around Christmas when I tried to switch him to Innova Puppy. I had received a coupon for a free bag, and thought it might be a good idea to have him alternate foods every other bag so he wouldn't get sick of one. He didn't want to eat it, and would pick the Orijen kibbles out when we tried to transition him. So, we abandoned our efforts and left him with his beloved Orijen. Apparently now he's sick of that. Ugh. What will this dog eat and enjoy?!

Enter the taste test. Luckily, last time we were in La Crosse we had picked up some adult food samples to prepare him for the switch from puppy food to adult. We picked up two different kinds of Fromm, three varieties of Taste of the Wild (TOTW) and two of Orijen (which we thought was going to be the slam dunk winner). We had been planning to wait until his Orijen Puppy was closer to being gone before we did the taste test, but this recent development sped up that process.

Puppy Taste Test

On Monday, we began a series of three different taste tests. This may sound silly, but we weren't about to spend the money on a bag of food that our picky little eater decides he doesn't like.

Taste Test 1: TOTW Pacific Stream, Fromm Chicken a la Veg, Orijen Adult, and Orijen Puppy (just to see what he'd do)
After sniffing them all, he definitely had a preference for the Fromm followed by the TOTW pile. Orijen Adult was eaten, but not preferred, and Orijen Puppy was outright rejected. This further confirmed that he is just sick of that flavor.

Tuesday morning, the day after the first Taste Test, I couldn't get him to show any interest in his breakfast. I put in a few kibbles of TOTW Pacific Stream and all of a sudden he was interested. Though he mostly picked them out to eat and left half of his Orijen. Tricky.

Taste Test 2: TOTW High Prairie, TOTW Sierra Mountain, Fromm Surf & Turf, Orijen Regional Red
After sniffing them all and tasting a few, he finished all of the TOTW High Prairie, followed by the Fromm Surf & Turf. TOTW Sierra Mountain was also eaten, but he was not at all interested in the Orijen Regional Red. I was surprised about that as Regional Red has different ingredients than the Puppy/Adult. He must just really be over Orijen now.

Taste Test 3 (The Finals): the top 2 from the previous nights - TOTW High Prairie, TOTW Pacific Stream, Fromm Surf & Turf, Fromm Chicken a la Veg
Chester made a beeline for the Fromm Chicken a la Veg. This made me sad because we probably won't be buying that for him (I'll explain below). He then ate all the TOTW High Prairie, followed by Fromm Surf & Turf. He didn't seem like the hugest fan of the TOTW Pacific Stream, but of course he made sure to eat every crumb.

Why not get him Chicken a la Veg? I know, I know. I feel like I'm depriving my little guy of his #1 choice. But, when I grabbed the sample I didn't look closely enough because it is not grain-free. We like to feed him a grain-free diet because it is more natural for his body. It also has some filler in it according to my favorite dog food rating websites.

These websites are VERY helpful when determining healthy dog food. Iams, Eukanoba, Pedigree, Science Diet, etc. are NOT good quality foods for your animal. If you are feeding them to your dog, please check out these sites for ratings and better options. I've found them to be incredibly helpful.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
- Rates from 1-5 stars
- TOTW High Prairie gets 5 stars

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
- Rates from 1-6 stars
- TOTW High Prairie gets 6 stars

Today, Adam picked up a bag of the TOTW High Prairie at Chuck & Don's (our favorite dog supply store). Hopefully this switch will please our little dog food connoisseur. Though he's going to have to deal with eating some Orjien for a bit longer while we make the switch gradually; so as not to upset his little tummy.