My dog is an adult, over-active, small-to-medium size. He tends to eat about 3/4ths of a can of dog food per day, but sometimes he goes for up to 3 days without eating his dog food at all (during which times he's fed about 5-6 treats and whatever is left over from the human food, which would be enough to sustain him, to be fair, but only to sustain him: it's not enough for a six year old dog to eat).

My problem is: does he get enough to eat; how do I stop him from going days at a time without food; and how do I stop him from eating late at night? I put food in his bowl during the day, and he ignores it until about 10pm at night, when he eats it.

If he's not losing weight then it must be enough to sustain him.

What brand of food are you using?

Personally, I'm pretty tough with my dog, her food goes down for 15 minutes twice a day and if she doesn't eat it she goes without (no treats, no leftovers, nothing) and she gets the same for the next meal, and the next, until she eats it.

He's too picky, Muze, I can't do that. I take up his food, and put the same bowl down again and again, the bowl ends up covered in maggot eggs before he'll eat it.

He's not losing weight though, which is something I didn't think about before you posted. thanks for that. Maybe he's just a picky eater though.

He eats any dog food that doesn't have gravy in it, and when he's gone for about 3 days without eating I'll switch to cat food and he eats the shit out of that for a while, before he goes off it too.

I would be careful with feeding cat food tbh, it can be very rich and high in salt.

It kind of depends what you want your dog to do IMO, if you want him to eat reliably and regularly, then you might need to be a bit tough with him, he won't starve himself.
And if the food you are presenting him with is starting to go off, then serve him exactly the same, just a fresh tin/packet.

Switching back and fourth between types of food will encourage him to be picky and although he may be OK now, his diet needs to keep him healthy for several years to come.

I had a fussy eater dog. Worst one you could imagine, I must have gone thought virtually every dog food on the shop shelves with him, then discovered that I had made him worse doing so. I fell into the trap of deciding if he didn't eat the food I put out, he didn't like it, so rushed out to get something else. And taught him to be finicky by doing so. Because what this actually teaches a dog is 'if I leave my food, they will get me something else which is better', so you do, and the dog scoffs it down with gusto for about three days because its new and exciting, before deciding it's boring, remembers that leaving the food gets it new stuff, so that gets left, and you get an endless cycle.

To overcome a fussy eater:

Put the food down for 20 minutes and no longer. If the dog has not eaten anything in that time, pick the bowl back up and repeat a few hours later. This will teach the dog that food is only available at certain times and if it doesn't eat it then, it won't get anything else.

Don't have food available constantly, so don't put foods down in a bowl for the dog to pick at throughout the day. This teaches that there is no set feeding time, and it will loose its natural incentive to dive for the food as it knows its there constantly no matter what. Dogs are natural opportunists, in the wild, if they catch something, that might be all they get for the week or more, so if there's food about they eat it, incase there's no more coming! Also, in a pack, they would have to fight to get and keep their share of the catch, which is why they usually dive for their food bowls as if their never fed. One single dog in a house will learn there is no other threat for food and may become lax about the need to get in first. You taking the bowl away will let it know its not a free for all, and that there is a 'threat' and put that incentive back.

If the Dog doesn't eat what's given after 20 minutes, take the bowl away, actually put it right out of sight/reach in the cupboard in view of the dog, and do not give anything at all until the same time next day. If it still goes uneaten do the same. Dogs aren't stupid, they won't starve to death, it might take a day or so ( longer if its got away with it for quite a while), but eventually it will sink in there's nothing else coming so it'd best eat what's put out.

To stop him eating late at night, put the bowl down earlier, you are the boss, you decide when meal times are, just like you decide when walk time, and bed time is. Do not allow your dog to demand and decide when it wants to be fed.

Your dog is leaving his food for one reason - he's discovered that if he does you give him treats and yummy human food instead! You are effectivly encouraging him to leave his own dinner and rewarding him highly when he does so!

What CollieWobbles said! Your dog is training you.

In the past, when I had german shepherds, I only fed them six days a week. The seventh day they'd get a couple of dog biscuits each but that was all. The theory being that as predators they're not meant to be fed as regularly as we feed them and their system benefits from a "rest". I can only say that this worked well for those dogs (they were fed a raw diet) and might be worth looking at for yours.

No dog will starve to death if it's offered food on a regular basis!

Also, and I may have said this in another thread, feeding your dog is an excellent opportunity to remind him who's boss! It reinforces discipline. Your dog should eat after you do, never before (I realise there may be times when this is not possible) and, as CollieWobbles said, he will learn that you're in charge of the food and not him!

Great post by cobbles. I'd also stop with wet food and stick to a complete dry so at least he gets something nutritionally balanced when he does eat.

Put it down in the am, take it up twenty mins later. No tit bits, not exceptions.

Great advice, CollieWobbles, thanks! And thanks everyone else for their advice too.