Does anyone else have a pug that is an extremely picky eater? I thought pugs were supposed to love food but my boy is the complete opposite! I've tried switching his food, putting water in it, putting the Iams sauce on it - you still have to beg him to eat it. He usually does end up eating it, but not until around 9:30pm at night. I don't know what to do anymore. Any suggestions??

My question is: Are you giving him a lot of treats during the day? If so do not do this. I would also stop switching his food. Some dogs are just not big eaters... I use to have a Rotty that was not a big eater and very picky... If he gets hungry enough he will evently eat he wont starve himself. Just pick a good food and stick with it.
Good luck.

My friends had a pooch who would not eat..- maybe once every two days....I hooked them up with Raw food...it comes in discs -they sell it at the local pet store In the DogHouse (I think on 24th and Meridith?) - it is the most nutricious food you can feed your pet..and the woman who work at the store told me there isn't a dog who doesn't like this stuff....and well...worked for my friends...might want to give it a try. - Just a suggestion -

I was actually told by the breeder that pugs are picky eaters, but our Satchel never was. When we first brought him home, we fed him Eukanuba puppy kibble with 1/4 can of mighty dog mixed in. Our vet freaked @ the Mighty Dog-claiming it was the nutritional equivalent of McDonald's-so she told us to try The Eukanuba canned food. We did & he wouldn't eat it. Till he was 5 months old we fed him Eukanauba Kibble with some Mighty Dog mixed in, he ate it up every time!! Apparently Satchel LIKES McDonald's...lol! Anyway, we stopped the canned food and switched him to a chicken-base adult maintenance kibble from Diamond and he eats it up-without any canned food at all (which is good since he weighed 18lbs then-25lbs now)! Every once in a while when our dogs are finicky, we sprinkle a little grated cheese topping on their kibble (trick we got from a petsitter)-and they eat it right up. Stick to one brand of food, & hopefully all will turn out ok!
Terri K.

I have 2 very, VERY picky eaters!! ... And no, we do not give any treats at all during the day to Betty or Mario. Everything you said sounds familiar; we tried switching to a different flavor food (worked for 1 night), we tried putting water in it (worked a little), and I bought that same Iams sauce (worked for maybe 2 nights). We finally found the solution though!! You mix in about a tablespoon of the wet version of the dry food you are giving them. We use just enough to coat the dry food. Now Betty & Mario finish their food in about 45 seconds!!! =) Hope this cures your picky eater!! Good luck & pug hugs!

M&M was a terrible eater. She just wasn't that interested in eating in general. After reading some dog psychology books and doing research on pack dynamics, I thought maybe the reason M&M wasn't interested in her food was because she didn't need to work for it. She didn't feel like she was a productive member of the pack. To change that, I made M&M sit and stay while I put her food bowl down. She was not allowed to eat it until I said OK. She got the routine pretty quickly and now eats all of her food when I put the bowl down. She's still no gobbler, but at least she's happily eating her chow. Also, she only eats dry food. I have not tried the IAMS sauce or the raw diet. The only thing I do is break up a little treat and mix that in her bowl. The treat currently is a little Talk to Me bone broken in half.

M&M seems much happier now that she works for her food. She used to be free fed and she barely ever ate.

I have Lotus sit and stay for her meals also. We don't put anything special in it except some yogurt sometimes which helps her from getting too runny. She was kind of difficult at meals in the begining but she definitely got better once we got her to "ask" for her food by sitting. Another thing that helped TREMENDOUSLY was when we took away her lunch time meal. Now that she only has breakfast and dinner she's WAY more cooperative about eating. If your pug isn't getting a lunch feeding, you might want to think about how many treats he's getting during the day. If he's hungry enough by dinner time he'll probably eat just about anything!

Good luck,
Brie and Lotus