# How long?



## molbert73 (Jan 16, 2011)

Just curious what was the longest you have "tough loved" it out? 
It has now been 4 days with no food for Stella including the fasting day. She did show some interest in the chicken back this morning so I'll take that as a good sign. The problem is that she wants to carry it around the house and find a safe spot to eat it and I don't really want chicken blood all over my carpet.
Maybe I will try giving it to her outside and then by the time the weather turns cold she will be eating great and it won't be a problem 
Grrrr, why can't she just be like my other dog and eat it in a timely manner on the towel that I put down for her?!?!


----------



## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

the few times I have had to use tough love, it hasn't been but for a day. By the next day at meal time they have always realized "ok, I'm hungry enough now to try that". She may just be picky, but she will eat it.


----------



## AdrianVall (Aug 26, 2010)

This is a good thread.. hopefully more will chime in. My mastiff pup is almost 5 months, and he won't eat fish anymore for some reason.. he started out eating it good, but now just completely turns his nose up to it.


----------



## Nani (Apr 14, 2010)

My youngest dog very picky. He will refuse to eat certain things. He has held out for 3 days at the most. I just put his food on the fridge and keep offering till he gets hungry enough. I started feeding once a day about a month ago and that has really really helped. He builds up an appetite throughout the day and by dinner time he is actually excited to eat.

Fish is one of his most disliked entrees. I started playing "Find it" with the fish in the backyard now he eats them... usually.... I put him in the house then I hide the fish in the backyard. I open the door and get him all riled up asking him "where is it?" and telling him to "FIND IT!!"


----------



## molbert73 (Jan 16, 2011)

Ugh, let's hope 3 days is the longest she can go  I really think that she just can't figure out what to do with that hunk of meat. If I could leave it out on the floor all the time I'd bet big money she would go to town on it. Obviously that isnt an option for many reasons. Once she started nibbling on her elk antler she was in love with it. In fact I had to put it up because I don't want her to have anything until she eats what I give her.
Maybe tomorrow is the day.


----------



## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

We tough-love'd it for 4 days with fish. We gave up after the 4th night refusal. She's apparently tougher than our love. :sad:


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I have known two separate dogs in different houses to go a straight 10 days on tough love. It was rough...but they stuck to it and never looked back. 

If you don't want your dog to carry the meat around the house, barricade them in the room you want them to eat in and walk away for 15 minutes. Its ok to peek in every once in a while but no words should be exchanged during this time.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I've known dogs to go 5 or 6 days.


----------



## MissusMac (Jan 6, 2011)

This is our first go round with tough love, it's been two days now and he won't eat anything. When we or another dog come close he licks at it like he wants it, or tries to leave the crate with it which is not allowed.

He's been fed once a day since starting PMR so maybe he's built up a tolerance to the hunger.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

@Molbert73 - MAYBE the only reason she's not eating is the crate. Leave it on the kitchen floor and see what happens. You should be able to keep her in the kitchen some way. It will only take a second to wipe it up. Get her used to eating raw, then confine her to the crate. At this point you don't know the reason for her not eating and I would like to eliminate one possible reason.

@Richelle - Did you try cutting up the fish? My dogs won't eat a while fish but if I cut it up into bit sizes, they will eat it fine. That means a talapia is cut into 4 or 5 chunks. I just cut strips from top to bottom. Have you tried canned fish?


----------



## Mollygirl (May 14, 2011)

Pinky, my dachshund, loves to get her piece of meat, run off and hide it then come back like she ate it and beg for more. She will wait for Molly to drop hers and then grab it and run off. I have been working on tough love on her for the past few days on this behavior, probably 3 days now, but I refuse to give her more and tell her she needs to eat what I gave her. I have to watch that she isn't grabbing Molly's. Well yesterday, she did her little run, hide and run back and after she saw she wasn't going to get anymore she went back and started eating. I think we have gotten over the hurdle. Just keep working on it.


----------



## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

RawFedDogs said:


> @Richelle - Did you try cutting up the fish? My dogs won't eat a while fish but if I cut it up into bit sizes, they will eat it fine. That means a talapia is cut into 4 or 5 chunks. I just cut strips from top to bottom. Have you tried canned fish?


Yup. We tried whole, cut up, lightly seared, heavily seared, smashed into goo, seared & smashed goo, and mixed with venison blood. She wasn't having it. Do you know how disgusting it is to pick fish goo up out of the grass and bring it in to COOK!?!? 

She eats canned mackerel just fine though, for some reason. So I even tried soaking the fresh fish in the horrible, salty liquid that comes in canned fish. But Ania was on to us. She licked every little piece of fish clean of the juice and spit the actual fish out in various places around the yard. This was only day 2 or 3, so I had to go out and try to find as many of the pieces as I could so that she could have them again at the next meal time. Frickin' little monster.

We've tried fish tough love on a few different occasions, with no luck. So we stick with canned fish on occasion & salmon capsules.


----------



## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

We have to do the same thing with the fish Bill, basically slice a side open to reveal the inside (meat, and organs) and then he realizes "oh! i'm supposed to eat this thing!"

we've not had to use tough love with the dog on this matter, but with the cat, he's gone 6 days without eating and turning his nose up to everything except crappy kibble.. like he's addicted to it.


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Tobi said:


> We have to do the same thing with the fish Bill, basically slice a side open to reveal the inside (meat, and organs) and then he realizes "oh! i'm supposed to eat this thing!"
> 
> we've not had to use tough love with the dog on this matter, but with the cat, he's gone 6 days without eating and turning his nose up to everything except crappy kibble.. like he's addicted to it.


 But Tobi, you know cats can't go that long without eating or they start doing damage to their internal organs right? This is why I won't switch my cats to raw because they can't go without eating. You can't do tough love with them...............


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Ania's Mommy said:


> She eats canned mackerel just fine though, for some reason. So I even tried soaking the fresh fish in the horrible, salty liquid that comes in canned fish. But Ania was on to us. She licked every little piece of fish clean of the juice and spit the actual fish out in various places around the yard.


I wouldn't worry about it then. It's not worth the effort as long as she access to some O3's occasionally.


----------



## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

My Sheltie went 7 days over beef. She won't touch it. If she grabs it she will spit it right out.. She is a pain about it, the most she will do is nibble a rib but no substantial meat. She eats everything else so we just go with it. My male didn't knwo what to do with chickne at first so I scored a leg in several places and cut a small piece of meat off and offeredd that. He got the hint and after thrre day I didn't have to score it anymore.


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

AdrianVall said:


> This is a good thread.. hopefully more will chime in. My mastiff pup is almost 5 months, and he won't eat fish anymore for some reason.. he started out eating it good, but now just completely turns his nose up to it.


my 12 year old corgi mix has decided she doesn't like fish. she'll lick it and play with it but won't eat it. but i've never gone longer than a meal with her....if i serve it for breakfast and she doesn't eat it, i serve it for dinner....i might serve it sooner because she is old....but the second time around is always a success...

bill, that's what we did with fish with the corgi. we cut it up for her. normally we don't do that. now she eats fish. reluctantly.

i don't know that i could do tough love... that goes on for days and days.

i feel for anyone that does.


----------



## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Tobi said:


> we've not had to use tough love with the dog on this matter, but with the cat, he's gone 6 days without eating and turning his nose up to everything except crappy kibble.. like he's addicted to it.


This is not safe at all. Cats that are forced to go without eating for more than a day can become very susceptible to a potentially fatal (and obviously serious) form of liver failure called hepatic lipidosis. Otherwise known as fatty liver disease. The body begins to tap into fat stored by the body in order to survive. The fat is then sent to the liver to be converted into usable energy. The cats liver is easily overwhelmed and is often unable to cope with the sudden increase of fat being circulated through it. As more fat is being deposited into the liver than it is capable of metabolizing and releasing, the cells of the liver become swollen with fatty deposits which cause serious damage to the organ itself.


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

molbert73 said:


> Just curious what was the longest you have "tough loved" it out?
> It has now been 4 days with no food for Stella including the fasting day. She did show some interest in the chicken back this morning so I'll take that as a good sign. The problem is that she wants to carry it around the house and find a safe spot to eat it and I don't really want chicken blood all over my carpet.
> Maybe I will try giving it to her outside and then by the time the weather turns cold she will be eating great and it won't be a problem
> Grrrr, why can't she just be like my other dog and eat it in a timely manner on the towel that I put down for her?!?!


this is just my personality....but i could not do the tough love thing....if more than two meals went by, i'd give in and feed something else. maybe you can try her on turkey.....and go back to chicken at a later date?


----------



## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I'm the same as Re....I can't do it for very long! :tounge: I got some veal for really good price, added that into the boys diet. But Leo won't touch it....so I offer it to him first, if he doesn't eat it(which he hasn't yet done) he gets the weight replaced with either chicken or turkey!:lol:


----------



## molbert73 (Jan 16, 2011)

I think I may have just figured her out! She is such a gentle dog and quite possibly the least food motivated dog i have ever known. She just cant quite grasp tbe concept of just chomping down on the meat/bone. I tore the meat off of a chicken thigh and she ate it. She is now nibbling on the bone. 
I'm trying to stay strong


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

molbert73 said:


> I think I may have just figured her out! She is such a gentle dog and quite possibly the least food motivated dog i have ever known. She just cant quite grasp tbe concept of just chomping down on the meat/bone. I tore the meat off of a chicken thigh and she ate it. She is now nibbling on the bone.
> I'm trying to stay strong


that is awesome.....and then once she gets the hang of it, she might just start eating on her own...so glad you didn't have to tough love it out another day.....sometimes we just have to be smarter than the dog LOL


----------



## trikerdon (May 14, 2011)

Ania's Mommy said:


> Yup. We tried whole, cut up, lightly seared, heavily seared, smashed into goo, seared & smashed goo, and mixed with venison blood. She wasn't having it. Do you know how disgusting it is to pick fish goo up out of the grass and bring it in to COOK!?!?
> 
> She eats canned mackerel just fine though, for some reason. So I even tried soaking the fresh fish in the horrible, salty liquid that comes in canned fish. But Ania was on to us. She licked every little piece of fish clean of the juice and spit the actual fish out in various places around the yard. This was only day 2 or 3, so I had to go out and try to find as many of the pieces as I could so that she could have them again at the next meal time. Frickin' little monster.
> 
> We've tried fish tough love on a few different occasions, with no luck. So we stick with canned fish on occasion & salmon capsules.


Sheba will not eat fresh fish. Tried cutting it up and put it into other food, she would pick out the fish and put it on the floor next to her bowl. She will and loves canned sardines, tuna and other canned stuff, but no fresh for her.


----------

