Food Drive Saga & Beach

Well... hand feeding was short lived. I did it for several feedings and a few days but did not feel like there was a huge improvement in her food drive. She also wasn't finishing a complete meal (about 3/4s through she would get less interested and I could feel it/see it).

Breakfast is the worst time for her in terms of eating. I think it has something to do with not really being hungry even though she has fasted all night. Dinner time is usually not a struggle and I think that is because she has been active throughout the day and has worked up an appetite. I posed a question to dog friends/dog people asking how much I could feed in one sitting. Stuck needs 3-4 cups of food a day to gain or maintain weight. It's been a struggle to keep weight on her because of this food issue. She maintains for a while and then starts refusing meals and drops again. Anyway the general opinion and experience seems to be that it is okay to feed 3 cups of food in one sitting.

That being said, for two meals now I have fed Stuck 1 cup in the AM and 2 cups in the PM and so far she has eaten every meal. I am going to give this a try and if it doesn't work I will switch to feeding her once a day.


We are starting a Relationship and Engagement Class through Harmony Canine and I decided to boil some chicken for bait to see if she would eat it with more enthusiasm. Well, knock on wood, she really likes the chicken! She is luring and pushing into my hand and has even bitten me a few times trying to get the food (Hahaha, who knew I'd be happy about that?). I'm hoping this trend continues because it makes training a heck of a lot easier for me. I used the chicken today to work on chin rests, takes/holds for the retrieve, and also for working on teaching her to stand.

In other news, we went to the beach on Tuesday. I honestly cannot thing of a time I laughed so much. It ended up being Seppel's birthday that day (I hadn't planned it that way), I thought, what better of a way to celebrate my dog than to go have a fun day at the beach. Stuck had a great time. At one point we went to a beach that had a lot of logs/rocks to climb on. She didn't hesitate to get up onto things for me, it kind of made me feel good that she was willing to do those things for me. It's a very slow process but I feel like we are headed in a good direction as far as our relationship goes.

Half brother Detour

Stuck's sister Livid