I’ve had Yukon for almost a week now, and I am having issues getting him to eat all of his food. The breeder said to let him self feed, but I did not do that with Nikko and I am not going to do it with Yukon either.

I give him is morning food and he will eat a little bit then want to go play. I confine him to a small space and put the food in front of him but he does not seem to want to eat it, he would rather go play. I have tried adding some chicken or treats with his food, and he will eat a little but will never finish his food.

I feed him 1 cup in the morning, and he will eat about half. I give him the rest at lunch and he will sometimes finish it. For dinner I will give him another 1 cup and he will eat some of it but he won’t finish it.

Here’s my though: If he does not eat it all within 10-15 minutes then I take it away and he does not get it again until the next feeding. I figure he will learn soon enough to eat his food if he is that hungry. However I don’t want to starve him either. Is there a way to get him to eat it all? He ends up eating a total of about 1 ½ cups a day, about ½ less than Nikko who is 8 months old.

May I ask what you are feeding?

The breeder had him on Puppy Chow, and I have been transitioning him to Wellness Super5mix for puppies. Right now he is getting 75% puppy chow and 25% Wellness. Today I am going to start him on 50/50

IT may be that he doesn't like the chow - have you tried just giving a meal of the wellness? It's not ideal, but if it helps him eat, I would do it.

He seems to leave an even amount of the wellness and chow, I think it is more of an issue that the breeder let him self feed throughout the day, so that is what he is used to. He wants to go play instead of eat and I am trying to get him to finish eating before he plays.

I thought there might a trick I can get him to eat it all, or put something on his food to get him to eat it all.

I think you would just make him picky if you started adding things - picky dogs are created and you don't want that lol Just keep following the 15 minute rule. A healthy dog will not starve himself.

That's what I figured too..If he is that hungry he will learn to eat it all during his feedings.