Picky eater? Or diva snacker?
So my F CC is 1y 4m and when I go to feed her I'll give her a few pieces of kibble with whatever topping and she'll spit out the kibble. I'll repeat this with pulling up the food dish occasionally until she eats the kibble as well.
She's always turned her nose up to the kibble ($100+ bag of kibble) so I'll take away the toppings for a few meals so she has to eat what I give her, not what she dictates what I feed her.
When I do make up her "special" meals I'll grab a few kibble and a bit off topping and she'll spit it out. I'll pick up the bowl and put it on the counter then repeat without the bowl on the ground. If it continues I'll walk away for a a minute and try again. She won't get to eat until she eats the kibble and topper. Once we get to that point I'll put the bowl down and present just kibble. If she rejects or spits it out I'll replace the bowl onto the counter. Then I'll provide just kibble. Usually it takes many attempts but sometimes if she continues to reject the kibble I'll give us a break after giving her a bigger hand portion of kibble and topping then walk away. Why does she keep doing this? Like if I don't cut up/ mush whatever the topping is to where she cannot pick it out she'll just eat the topping.
It genuinely erks me because she should know I'll literally give her her bowl as soon as she eats the topping and kibble.
She's always been like this. When I first got her I didn't do topper rights away because I didn't want the picky eater habit to start but she'd have no interest in the kibble for days, then my bf would feel all bad and top it with whatever. He's even completely under mind my rule of no food left out but he said she was getting too skinny.
I get it but she cannot dictate what we are going to feed her and she's not gonna have an all she can eat buffet. Even when he does give her her buffet all day so etimes it has to be just kibble because we ran out of topper. And she'll just ignore it. I've tried different dog foods all in the same price range. Idk why it irks me but literally like I'm helping her out because she cannot get all the necessary nutrients from toppers alone and what happens if we cannot afford her toppers for a week or two? I feel this sense of diva idk attitude (before y'all come for me saying I'm humanizing the dog, maybe I am a little but dogs have change so much in the last few years, they're much more in tune and idk.... They actually have personality... At least Cane Corsos do.
Usually the battle is over the span of anywhere from 15 mins-45 mins. Sometimes I have to take a breather before imploding from agitation I have to put the bowl up for 30mins-1hr. All while she'll sit below the bowl and giving me side eyes over it like Im the problem.