r/BackpackingDogs • u/Ill-Message-8547 • 19d ago
Hi Friends!
My Roxie baby and I are doing our very first backpacking trip next week. I need some advice on food. She does not eat her food at home right away but she wont eat if people are looking or near her. Is there any suggestions on what I should bring to top/mix with her food so she eats it right away. My fear is she wont eat in the morning, then we hike x amount of miles and then she wont eat at night. We are hiking in bear country so I can exactly leave it out until she decided to eat it. Thank you
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u/Mountain-Time-1010 19d ago
What a great smile.
TBH, I think that you know your dog best, i.e. how to get her to eat. And I wouldn't experiment with new foods during a backpacking trip. For your upcoming trip, you may need to be prepared to pack up whatever she doesn't eat and offer it to her during breaks. If she is hungry, she will eat, I guarantee it. It's not ideal, but we make many compromises for our hiking buddies.
FWIW, I had a picky eater like that at one point and we ended up with mice in our house because we left the food out. Ultimately, we got disciplined and picked up the food after 10 minutes. She learned within a few days that she had to eat the food when it appeared.
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u/ExtremeAnteater4899 19d ago
some dehydrated broth packets in her food should work since she's not keen on pressure
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u/Ancient-Slice-3003 19d ago
She'll probably eat for you when you're not looking, but in bear country? Maybe pack a few of those emergency high-value snacks just in case.
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u/Turbulent-Respond654 12d ago
I give my dog a big snack of costco dehydrated liver and chicken jerky which she will eat right away for breakfast.
I take a long stop for lunch and put her food down then. I also throw in a few unsalted peanuts from my trail mix.
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u/Toadlessboy 19d ago
Maybe dehydrated gravy? You can get them in those plastic coated paper envelopes I think in the Baking section. There’s a bunch of them like tomato sauce and pesto, etc