We had to get 10 pounds off our 9 yr old Lab & we were mixing canned w/ kibble, too.

We changed her food to Nutro for Overweight & Inactive dogs. She loves it.
Plus, we just cut back the portions on both by about 10% & the weight came off.
She was begging for treats like crazy, so we substitued carrot chunks for dog cookies.
She loves them & still has not gained back the weight.

I feed smaller portions twice a day. Few treats. More walking. Lots more walking!

Why not just feed him canned instead of kibble? There was a thread recently about the benefits of canned and because of it I switched my dog to the canned version of his kibble.....Nutro Ultra.

I don't think mixing the food causes a weight problem, since that can be due to health problems, lack of exercise, brand of dog food and quantity fed.
Look for a quality canned food and your dog should be satisfied and not have a weight issue. Plus, offer some safe chewies to keep him occupied.

I would think eventually your dog will get hungry enough, that he will eat what you give him... no matter what.

I mixed a bit of canned mixed veggies with dry dog food and she acted like it was the best stuff in the world.

We take a long walk down the country road and back every day. Never heard that canned food was good for your dog, always heard the opposite; but there are sure enough brand name canned foods out there to think otherwise. Look good enough for me to eat! More expensive though.

I'll give him another day or so and then probably give in and offer some canned. I'll check out the brands suggested.

I've included the link to the thread I mentioned. It starts off about cats but ends up discussing dogs.

Here is a link that might be useful: diet

Thanks for the link to that thread.

If you are giving only kibble, why do you take it up when he doesn't eat? Just leave it there. If he is hungry, he will eat it. He is probably living off of his own body fat right now and isn't that hungry unless he gets something really good.

Overweight animals are just like people. If the food isn't available, they can't over-eat. To me, it is sad when people allow their pets to get overweight. They can't go to the store and get their food --- they depend on you so shame on anybody who over-feeds a pet.

Scooby isn't and never was obese, sorry to have mislead you by opening my original post with "was going to post this under the "Obese Senior Dog" thread. He's a small poodle mix. Yesterday and today I gave him half of a can with a handful of kibble. He carefully ate all the canned and left the kibble! How'd he do that?? ha.

We'll work it out. Thanks for all the suggestions.

My current pup went through a range of dog foods before finding one that she liked. Like your pup, she does like her canned. What I do is give her a teaspoon of Merricks thinned with hot water. Then add 1/4 cup of Innova. She licks the bowl clean. Before she would kind of nibble on her food and then basically leave some in the bowl.

So I guess what I'm saying is maybe you need to try a different dry food. I also went through various canned. I found she didn't like the solid type of canned foods. Also, put less of the canned but kind of soup it up (by adding hot water) so it coats the dry and gives it more flavor. The water will help with the digestion of the dry. If you serve it immediately, your pup will still get the benefit of crunching on the dry. Just do gradual changes, especially with giving too much canned. Otherwise you could end up with a dog with diarrhea.

Cut down on the canned and when the pup gets hungry he will eat the dry. I was babysitting a doxi, who loved the canned I was feeding my pup. She would lick all the canned juices off the dry before eating the dry. So yes dogs can and will eat around what they don't like.

Try slowly weaning the canned food off, just like you switch any other food. That way, he'll slowly learn to eat the crunchy stuff again as it becomes less and less goopy over a week or two.

Then if you want to give him wet food as a treat, try freezing it into a food toy (like a kong).

Well...I caved and bought four cans of InNova senior food today, will be mixing some with the Purina. Both dogs LOVED it, I think it smells awful. Scooby is a happy camper again.

He originally belonged to my sister-in-law's mother, who went into a nursing home and he was on his way to the pound unless I brought him home. When I asked my sister-in-law what he ate, she said, "He likes anything soupy (canned food)". So that was what he was raised on. I got him in 2004 and eventually had him eating the dry food along with my other two dogs. There was canned food in the house because I had a senior dog in failing health in August who was refusing to eat, so I tried different things to encourage her. She passed away later that month.

Well.....IMO.....good for you! :)
You didn't mention his age, but I was wondering when was the last time he had his teeth checked. Many dogs, especially some of the poodle breeds, tend to have bad teeth and that may be a reason for him preferring soft food.

If you shop at Costco you may want to check out their canned food.