Wet food/leash issues

[jerseychic921]

Hi All,

I just adopted a mini schnauzer/possibly terrier mix, Max, who is about 5 years old. He is absolutely wonderful so far, but I'm having a few issues. The first is that he will only eat wet food. Even when I mix dry food in, he eats all wet and leaves all of the dry. During the day, I've been leaving dry food in his dish, but he won't eat it. He'll actually take the towel his food sits on and covers the dish with it!! For general health reasons, I'm worried of only giving him wet food. Is this really bad or is there anything I can try to get him to eat some dry?? I bought some of the flavored gravy to mix in, but he didn't want that either!

Second, Max has an issue with his leash. Either his former owners used to play tug-of-war with something resembling a leash, or he was hurt by one because all he wants to do it bite it and fight it. He gets very mad at it when we try to go on walks. Has anyone run into this type of issue?? I've tried spraying the bitter spray but it didn't work at all!! Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thank you!! :D

[bckrazy]

Congrats on Max! Good on you for rescuing the little guy ^^ we need pics!

About wet food, what kind of dog food are you feeding him? Some kibbles just tend to be way less palletible, OR he could've only been fed canned/scraps at his former home and just doesn't like kibble, OR he's doing it because he knows he can! Is he underweight? Most people feed canned with kibble for puppies or to put weight on and adult. Canned actually has better ingredients/more meat than kibble, but it is more expensive.... other than that, it isn't unhealthy for him to eat only canned, as long as he gets teeth brushing/chews to keep his mouth in shape. Make sure he's getting a good quality kibble (NO corn, NO by-products, NO soy, meat as first ingredient), and if this does bother you, you could just cut him off from canned and only give him kibble... dogs will not starve themselves. You can try lots of alternatives to add to his kibble, which will still be healthy. Soak it in broth or warm water, mix it with bits of meat, mix it with pulped veggies, a raw egg, etc.

About the leash, a leather leash might discourage the chewing. You could get a cheap leash and rub tabasco on it, or bitter apple. He could also just not be used to having a leash on... as long as you're watching him, you can get him used to it by just having it on him and letting it drag indoors.