Picky eaters
What to do when your picky dog turns down a treat
Updated
A subscription box for picky dogs works when you start it with what your dog already takes and which proteins to skip, then treat each new bag as a test. Offer one small piece, try again on another day, and pass along what still misses. The box supplies the variety. Your dog supplies the verdict.
What does picky usually look like with treats?
It looks different from dog to dog, which is why the word is so slippery. Some dogs sniff a new piece and walk off. Some take it, carry it to the rug and leave it there. Some eat anything from your hand and nothing from the floor. The common thread is that the dog is making a choice, and the choice usually comes down to a short list of things.
Smell is the first filter, because a dog meets a treat with its nose before its mouth. Texture is the second. A light, crumbly piece and a firm, leathery one are different experiences, and plenty of dogs have a view on which they prefer. Size and place matter too. A piece too big to finish in one go, or offered in a spot where the dog is not relaxed, can be turned down for reasons that have nothing to do with the treat itself. These are possibilities, not causes. Our checklist for choosing the best dog subscription box has the short answer on picky dogs, and this page is the long one.
How do you offer a new treat to a choosy dog?
Slowly, and with modest expectations. A new bag from the box is a test drive, not a purchase. Here is a routine worth trying:
- Break off one small piece by hand. A fingernail sized bit asks less of the dog than a whole treat does.
- Offer it from your hand at a quiet moment, not during a meal and not while the dog is wound up about something else.
- If the dog turns it down, put the bag away without comment. No coaxing, and no different treat handed over as a consolation prize.
- Try again on another day, in another room if you like. A piece that missed on Tuesday sometimes goes down on Friday.
Keep the pieces small while the dog is deciding, and keep count of nothing. The aim is a few tries on different days, not a tally. Whatever the box sends, the treats in it are extras next to the regular food, there for intermittent or supplemental feeding only, so a slow start is no loss.
What can you do with a treat your dog will not eat?
Keep it, mostly. A bag that missed this week is a bag to try again later, once the dog has forgotten the first meeting. Put it back on the shelf with the others.
If a treat still misses after a few tries, crumble it over the regular food as a topper. Some dogs who refuse a whole piece from your hand will eat the same thing broken over dinner, because the texture question has changed. Or give the bag to a friend's dog, with the friend's say so. A treat that misses in your house is not waste, just a wrong fit.
And if you would like the jar to keep changing so that any single miss matters less, the guide to rotating dog treats lays out an easy way to keep the jar changing with no calendar involved.
How does your skip list shape the next box?
The skip list is the one lever you hold, so use it. When you start a Modified Monthly box you choose dog or cat and name the proteins to leave out, and that note guides what we pick each month. The lineup changes monthly and favorites return, so a protein your dog likes has a fair chance of coming around again.
What the note cannot do is veto a treat by name. We choose the lineup for the month, contents vary, and the label on each bag has the last word. If your dog's verdicts change the list, get in touch, tell us which pet the box is for and which proteins to add or remove, and the next box is chosen against the new note. The note is a preference list and not a diet, and we do not give feeding advice.
When is picky a question for your vet rather than a treat box?
When the dog is also turning down its regular food. A dog who passes on a new treat and then eats dinner as usual is being choosy about treats and nothing more. A dog who leaves the food bowl too is telling you something a treat box cannot answer, and that is the point to ask your veterinarian.
Questions
Why does my dog ignore new treats?
Nobody can tell you that from the outside, and we will not guess at a cause. What you can observe is which treats get ignored: the strong smelling ones or the mild ones, the crumbly ones or the firm ones. Patterns in those columns tell you more than any theory about why.
Will a picky dog take freeze-dried treats?
Some do and some do not, and we will not promise either way. Freeze dried pieces are light and break apart easily, which some choosy dogs seem to like and others ignore. Offer a small piece from your hand, try on more than one day, and let your dog settle the question for you.
Can I tell the box which treats my dog refused?
Not by name. The lever you have is the protein skip list: tell us which proteins to leave out and which pet the note is for, and we choose the next lineup with that in front of us. Contents vary from month to month, so a treat that missed may not return in any case.
How many times should I offer a new treat?
A few, spread across different days, rather than several in one sitting. One small piece per try is plenty. If the dog has turned it down on a handful of separate days, move that bag to the topper pile or pass it to a friend's dog, and stop keeping score.
Does breaking a treat smaller help a choosy dog?
Often enough that it is worth doing first. A small piece asks less of a dog who is undecided, and it turns a firm treat into something closer to a crumb. Break it by hand rather than with a knife, so the piece stays uneven and gives the dog more to sniff at before deciding.
Are freeze-dried or air-dried treats better for picky dogs?
Neither, as a rule. Freeze dried treats are light and crumbly, air dried treats are denser and chewier, and a choosy dog may lean toward one or the other. Our treats come both ways, so over a few months you find out which way your dog leans without running a separate experiment.