Our Border Collie is called Tess, she is 8 months old and we have had her since she was 2 months old. She is our first dog.
She is fed twice a day now onPedigree Optimal Growth Junior Large Dog chicken and rice dry food, we switched about a month ago from the puppy version of this.

Some days she will not eat any at all, other days just one bowl, usually she will eat two bowls one in the morning and one at 6.00pm.

Is this normal? she does not get loads of treats, never has any human food, she has loads of energy 3 good walks a day, and her coat is lovely and shiny. She is basically a picture of health. She just doesnt eat some days! Which we are finding worrying!

I dont want a debate about raw food / wet food/ dry food, but if someone knows of a better dry food thats reaily available I would be interested.

Any guidance welcome!

Firstly i'd change her off pedigree its an awful food full of crap, its like you eating maccys everyday. Take a look at something like CSJ.

Some dogs don't eat a lot do you leave it down? or pick it up after say 10mins?

Have tryed both leaving down and taking away, since problem is her not eating we are leaving them down now, taking it away at bed time.
Very interested in CSJ, why is this so much better?

: I googled it and there are only 2 distributers in west yorkshire one of whom is our trainer who lives 2 miles away!
Any one else any experience of CSJ as it would be very convenient?

Quite a lot of people on here use it, it's cheap and has less rubbish in it, ideal for an active border collie.

I would take her food away if she doesn't eat it, then shes more likely to be hungry.

HI Ya - Millie has CSJ - been on it since a pup and doing really well on it. She goes through stages off leaving her food, I just pick it up and put it back down at her next feed time (shes feed twice a day). With CSJ you can add water , makes a nice gravey - She loves this and it make a change

JO

I'm just introducing mine to CSJ now.

All dogs will turn their noses up sometimes. Owners worry too much about this. No healthy dog will starve itself to death and you'll know if they are ill. Your dog doesn't sound ill so you don't need to worry about her not eating some of her meals.

In a lot of cases, it's because the owner over-estimates the amount of food their dog needs. Some dogs eat the lot and get fat, others will just not bother eating some meals simply because they aren't hungry....then their owners start thinking they are going to die of starvation.
A lot of owners start trying to ply their dog with other stuff in an attempt to get them to eat and then the dog cottons on that if they turn their nose up at their usual food, they'll be offered tastier alternatives...which are often far from ideal for the health of the dog..then they end up with a spoilt dog that will only eat certain things...usually bad for them and expensive at the same time.

Have a look at how much you are feeding. Maybe you are just giving her too much. It might say to feed a certain amount on the food bag but those are generalized...each dog is different and you have to learn how much your dog needs as an individual.

I agree, pedigree is full of additives so to is Bakers complete, loads of e numbers.

Before I knew about this ,I tried Meg on these foods, after a few weeks she was climbing the walls she was so hyper. After a few weeks of changing I noticed a big difference.

Arden grange is good to, also laughing dog, both have websites

Margaret

Hi,

My bc Skye used to do this, some days he wouldnt eat at all. At first I worried but since he was fit and healthy it was obviously not affecting him. Even now he will sometimes go a couple of days without eating, although now we have 4 dogs he tends to eat his food before the others do!

I would just pick up the dish with no comment and not give treats or anything until his next meal. The less fuss the better, collies are very good at training their owners!!