My dog isn't eating.

Personally, if his weight is good and he's healthy, I wouldn't worry about it. My dogs inhale their food in about 10 seconds and they're both labs, but I wouldn't be worried that yours doesn't. Some people are completely against this, but when I had my Samoyed, she'd pick thru her food all day long. I didn't care and she did fine. As I said, I wouldn't worry if he's doing well otherwise.

I've been thru this for five years with Willow--all the same behaviors--will eat a new food at first, will not eat a meal but take cookies.  My vet has told me that as long as her weight is maintained then just offer her the food and take it up after 15 minutes or so.  I do add fresh meats and canned to hers.  But, once you start that eventually they poo poo that too.  So, while he might like homecooked A LOT at first as he gets used to it, it won't be such a big deal for him and then he'll start leaving that too.  And, take it from me, there is NOTHING more annoying than spending all kinds of time cooking and the dog won't eat it, The fact that he's taking cookies to me, IMO, shows it's behavioral.  I can't tell you how many times we'd take her to the vet because she's not eating, the vet would offer her a cookie and she'd gobble it down! 

I was also told that if she doesn't eat for more than a few days--like 3 or more--to take her in.

Hope this was helpful.

Lori

3 cups a day of Evo seems like an awful lot.   My largest guard dog (150 pound intact male and extremely active) ate 3.5 cups of Evo a day when they were on it.  Consider reducing his food just a smidge.  If that makes you uncomfortable, journal his eating habits and figure out how much he's really eating per week, then figure out how much that would be per day.  If he's skipping meals then he's probably actually regulating his intake down to about 2 or 2.25 cups per day.

The other thing is that he might be looking for a little more interaction with you.  He might be enjoying the daily game of "offer food/take food/offer food/take food."  Consider offering him other games instead.  It's not that you aren't doing anything, he just might need more - formal training, trick training, a class, etc. 

most dogs simply don't enjoy a meal of nothing but dry kibble, especially if it's the exact same kibble they had for the last six weeks. Dogs crave variety and they crave real food with moisture and meat in it.

I would pick one type of food and that would be it for all feeds for a long long time.  I would give the dog a over abundance of food and when the dog was finished I would take the food away.  I think the 15 minute rule is silly.  At first I would have about 4 meals offerred and then eventually reduced to 2.  With each feed I would reduce the amount so you can tell exactly how much the dog needs to eat.  Eventually the dog is going to leave only a few kernals. 

I would also try and make meal time a scheduled social event.  If it is only you, then eat something when the dog is eating.  When I attempted to feed my dogs variety, it always ended up with an illness or behavior problems.  I have had most types of dogs here as fosters and I do not have any feeding problems, and they eat the same thing day in and day out.  They really enjoy meal time more than the meal itself.  That should be the goal.

My dog, Sophie, was like that for a long time.   She barely ate, she's a 70 pound girl who gets lots of exercise and she was averaging about 1 cup of food a day, somedays just not eating at all.  I talked to the vet about it and she said her weight was perfect and that Sophie was self-regulating and that if she's not one to over-eat than don't push it. 

She was on Taste of the Wild at the time.  She'd had about the same reaction to Innova.  Ate it when she was hungry enough, but didn't go crazy for it.  I ended up switching to Canidae, which the dogs have been on for several months.  For some reason she seems to love it and getting her to eat is never a problem anymore.  She still does have days where she doesn't eat, but she averages about two cups a day now. 

I wouldn't worry unless your dogs' weight or energy level drops.  You could always try a kibble topper if you want to add more excitement, but it might also make it so he'll become picky and not eat unless there was a topper. 

Thanks for all of the responses!  You've all given me a lot to think about.  I actually made him a kibble topper, but now I'm afraid to make him pickier.  I hadn't thought of that.  I do think that the biggest part of his food pickiness is behavioural, and I'd hate to make it worse.  Well, it's already made and I don't want to waste it, so I'm just going to use it up and then see what happens.  Maybe I'll freeze half of it and only use it on one meal per day.

Maybe he is getting too much food.  I hadn't really thought about it, but it makes sense.  He's a big boy (120 pounds, but not fat at all), and I was going by the lower recommendation on the Evo bag's label.  I guess I never expected that a retriever might self-regulate!  lol

Thanks again!

Yeah, with Sophie I think she caught on to the fact that if she didn't eat, eventually (even if she had to wait until the next day) she'd get something special in her food.  Honestly with her, I think it made the pickiness and lack of eating worse.   Once I stopped with the toppers she did start eating her kibble plain again.  I'll still supplement with the occasional items, but I try and do it seperate from her dry food.  It's the way we were able to make things work.  Talking to my vet made me feel A LOT better about the amount Sophie eats.  It's still nowhere near what the bag says a dog her size should be eating, but I cannot imagine her ever eating more than two cups of food a day.