08/20/2026
๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ด ๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ป๐ด๐ฟ๐โฆ ๐ข๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ?
Iโve been learning a LOT lately about the differences between hunger, appetite, food motivation and food reward in humans.
Naturally, it has me looking at dogs through the same lens!
Treble is actually a perfect example.
Heโs always been my โpickyโ dog. Heโs gotten MUCH better over the years, but feeding him has definitely required some creativity.
Heโs still particular about certain textures, especially with raw food. And honestly? If he genuinely dislikes a texture, Iโm not interested in having a battle of wills over it. Sometimes Iโll simply hand-feed itโand heโll willingly eat it that way.
All of my dogs actually eat approximately half kibble and half raw becauseโฆ feeding multiple large dogs entirely raw (especially balanced raw, or raws that are not bone or fat heavy) gets EXPENSIVE ๐
But Trebleโs relationship with kibble is particularly interesting.
๐๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ?
โAbsolutely not. How dare you offer me thisโ๐
๐ข๐ป ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ?
Suddenly kibble is apparently the greatest delicacy on Earth.
The video Iโm posting with this is Treble howling at me for more kibble while weโre walking (excuse my voice cracking, itโs early). Sometimes heโll carry on like this for much of the walk, although usually he just pesters me a few times for another piece or handful.
Iโll toss kibble for him at home and heโll eat it.
If Iโm gone, heโll eat kibble for Chantel.
But if I put it in his bowl?
Meh.
At this point, I am VERY aware that weโve unintentionally conditioned some of this behaviour ๐
And thatโs what makes feeding behaviour so interesting.
๐๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ โ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ โ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ โ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐๐ฟ
The exact same food can have a completely different value depending on WHO offers it, WHERE itโs offered, HOW itโs presented and what the dog has learned happens next.
Treble also has another layer to his feeding routine.
Heโs historically been prone to what people often call โhunger pukesโโvomiting when his stomach has been empty too longโso he gets several smaller meals throughout the day.
Interestingly, he can now comfortably go about 11โ12 hours overnight, whereas previously around 8 hours could be problematic. I havenโt deliberately reduced his daytime meal frequency to test his current tolerance, because what weโre doing is working well.
And then winter arrivesโฆ โ๏ธ
Feeding Treble generally becomes harder again.
So even within ONE dog, food intake and food motivation arenโt necessarily static.
This is an area Iโm finding fascinating because traditional canine nutrition understandably spends a lot of time asking:
โWhat should this dog eat?โ
But sometimes thereโs another incredibly important question:
๐ง โWhat is actually driving this dogโs eating behaviour?โ
Hunger hormones, gut-brain signalling, reward pathways, nausea, previous experiences, environmental cues, learned behaviour, food texture, palatability, stress, activity, temperature and probably MANY other factors can influence whether a dog wants to eat.
And sometimes the dog refusing kibble from you while simultaneously screaming at you for the EXACT SAME KIBBLE on a walk is giving you a pretty big clue that calories arenโt the whole story ๐๐๐งฌ
