Dog Food

Is your dog a fussy eater? Having trouble getting your dog to eat their food and have you almost tried every brand and type to resolve this issue?

I may have found the answer to your troubles.


Just recently I read an interesting article in a dog book about a dogs taste, and this may help to provide some answers or clues as to why you may have wasted money on dog food in the past. Or why your dog is a fussy eater still. The book in reference was called 'The Dogs Mind' By Bruce Fogle

The research was carried out by Katherine Houpt at Cornell University. What Katherine says is that a pet dog’s appetite was affected by the taste, texture and smell of the food, but also by the dog owner’s perception of the dog and the owners own preference for food. The dog’s social and physical environment affected its eating habits too.

Katherine then goes on to report that female dog’s have slightly greater preference for sugared diets than did male dog’s, and all preferred their own food warm to cold. Katherine also observed that as a general rule dogs preferred canned or semi moist food to dry foods, but had no preference for canned food over semi moist. Smell, not taste was the important factor in establishing a preference for one meat over another, but amongst dog’s that could smell. 85% preferred beef to other meats.

Now for an interesting bit and I quote; Katherine tested the above in kennel dog’s, she then repeated the tests on pet dogs in their homes and discovered that dog’s that slept in bedrooms liked one food and dog’s that received table scraps liked another. Dog’s attached to the man of the household liked different food to dog’s attached to the woman of the household. Wow.. This makes sense in that my daughters border terrier, called Fred likes vegetables more than anything else. As does my daughter..! 

Her conclusion was that taste alone does not determine a dog’s preference for food. There was more than just sensory input affecting a dog’s eating behaviour, more than just conditioned reflex or instinct. Our interaction with our dog, some how affects their taste buds. I find this research so fascinating that I wanted to share it with you and incidentally it has also been found that dog’s that have depletion of calcium and other minerals in the diet can have significant influence on the dog’s mind, producing increased aggressive or exploratory behaviour. Always consult a vet first for any issues of health or behaviour problems to make sure there are no underlying causes first.