Hello All!

I would like to introduce everyone to Dexter! We brought him home two weeks ago. He is currently 10 weeks old but is small for his age. He is currently weighing in a little north of 5 pounds. We have been to the vet with him a couple of times as he has a very sensitive stomach, but overall he is a healthy little pup! The vet thinks he is small because he was born about 5 days premature.  

Anyways, he does not like treats at all. The only thing he will eat is his puppy food which he will not eat unless it's at his feeding times(weird, I know). We have tried about 12-15 different things(it's getting expensive!) and  all he will do is put them in his mouth and immediately spit them out. Did any of y'all struggle with this with your pups? It's making training very difficult, we are currently giving him lots of praise and encouragement but I feel like that will only help so much. He is pretty much fully potty trained as he has had only a couple of accidents in the house or his crate since we got him but he just looks at me when I'm trying to teach him commands. Just curious if anyone has had similar problems could share some advice.

Dexter at 8 weeks:


Dexter at 10 weeks:


acting crazy

Well, you see, the problem is that you're not trying to train him - hi thinks you're trying to train the dog behind him. (( sorry, I stole that line from one of our other regulars. ))

Being picky about food - while neither of mine are, I've heard that a lot here. The best food is one that is a good quality (see dogfoodadvisor.com among other site) and that he'll eat and leave well enough alone.

Some of these animals are extremely food oriented - and others could care less about the food or even if they ever eat any. ( er, I've got one of each ) I think you'll find that you'll have as much success with attention and correction as you will with food - from your description, he's just one of those animals.

... and you've got yourself a pretty little pup there. Keep up with the pictures and I'm sure you'll get told that a lot!!

Welcome to the forum. He's so cute! Huskies do like their routine. If he likes to eat at certain times I would use that to your advantage and train at meal time. Make him earn ever bit of that food that he likes.

Haha, Al, I am the one he stole the line from, lol, but it is oh so true with huskies. My girl Miya is not food motivated at all, and praise (good girl in a happy voice) and a nice should rub seemed to work for her. You can try kibble to use as a reward, but again in my case did not work, or cook up some boneless, skinless chicken breast that is plain, and cut up into pea size bites and try that as a training reward. if you go that route use the chicken only for training and use like i said pea size pieces. With food, many huskies do not do well with grain inclusive foods, try looking for a quality grain free food, and see if Dexter does better with that. He is absolutely a cutie and welcome to the forum.

I'm in Georgia too! Not a lot of advice on training other than what was offered! You could try clicked training.

hi, and welcome to the forums, he is adorable.

Hi
We are in puppy classes and one working dog (a spaniel being trained as a hunters companion later) is NOT treat motivated. The trainer has them using a reward of a small squeaky toy for her reward base. She also has them training with her kibble at dinner time so that she eats her reward sometimes.

Dexter is absolutely adorable!!

Hello! He is so sweet and fluffy. My dog could eat anything, so I haven't encountered that issue yet. I am hoping our new addition will be the same way. I hope that you find things that he will be able to eat. Maybe it will get better as he gets a little older.