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Across 5 European Countries Poodles and Poodle Crosses are “Fussy Eaters” Whereas Labradors “Eat Anything” Compared to Other Breeds and Their Crosses: Results from a Dataset of over 615,000 Canine Records

Submitted:

27 August 2026

Posted:

01 September 2026

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Abstract
Background: Owners often report that Poodles and Poodle-crosses are “fussy eaters”, and Labrodors and Labrador-crosses are the opposite, however there are no large scale studies looking at breed differences in food intake and “fussiness”. Aims To analyse a large database of dog records to identify any differences in eating habits between Poodles and Labradors compared to a general population. Methods Dog owners registering with a pet food company completed a Likert scale questionnaire on their dog’s eating habits. Results: Over 615,000 canine records were analysed. In a dataset from 2017-2021 Poodles and their crosses had a significantly higher degree of “fussiness”, to non-Poodle breeds (p <0.001). A dataset from 2022-2024 across all 5 European countries the dataset showed 61.3% of Poodles and their crosses were “very fussy” or “fussy eaters” significantly higher (p <0.001) than non-Poodle breeds of which 46.7% were “very fussy” or “fussy” eaters. From a 2022-2024 dataset Labradors represented 20.0% were good eaters and 44% “foodies” compared to non-Labradors (p < 0.001) Conclusion Poodles and their crosses are significantly more likely to be “fussy eaters” than non-Poodle breeds. Labradors are significantly more likely to be a “foodie” and will eat just about anything. Further studies are needed to determine why Poodles and their crosses are predisposed to be “fussy eaters”.
Keywords: 
poodle
;  
poodle-cross
;  
labrador
;  
labrador-cross
;  
fussy eater
;  
foodie
;  
food intake
;  
pet food
;  
appetite
Subject: 
Biology and Life Sciences  -   Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Introduction

Fussy eating (also known as “picky” or “finicky” eating) is a common anecdotal report from pet owners, but there are few studies that report the prevalence. A 2023 survey commissioned by a pet food company found 37% of owners described their dog as a “fussy eater”, with 10% of dogs “consistently refusing to eat their food” (Data on File with Butternut Box) In a survey of 2,000 dog owners by OnePoll for US dog food brand Jinx 49% admitted that they “always” or “often” struggled to get their dog to eat meals, with 48% reporting that they needed to add things to the meal to encourage their dog to eat [1].
In a recent paper using a validated questionnaire in about 15,000 dog owner dyads, food motivation was a key driver of obesity in dogs, and high food motivation rendered affected dogs particularly susceptible to an obesogenic environment [2]. In this study Toy, Mini and Standard Poodles had "low food motivation" scores, with Labradors receiving "high food motivation" scores, indeed the internal drive to eat was lowest in Poodle breeds, and highest in Labradors.
It is important to determine whether “fussy eating” is a normal physiological response to food intake mediated through the satiety centre, or due to a disease or a behavioural problem, in order to develop a strategy to ensure a balanced dietary intake.
Currently there is no accepted definition of “fussy eating” in humans or dogs, but from a dog owner’s perspective, fussiness may present as total, or frequent refusal to eat meals, occasional refusal, slow speed of eating and/or repeated failure to finish meals.
A range of factors may be involved, including genetic predisposition, learned behaviours, medical history and the types of food offered.
A genetic predisposition towards increased food motivation, food-seeking behaviour and obesity has been reported in Labradors and Flat-coated retrievers [3,4,5,6]. Whilst a genetic predisposition for “fussy eaters” has been suggested [7], no evidence has yet been forthcoming. Anecdotally, small breeds of dog seem to be more predisposed to being “fussy”, especially Poodles and Poodle crosses. Whilst purebred Poodles are no longer in the Top 20 most popular Breeds according to the Royal Kennel Club in one survey [8] 5 per cent of UK dogs were Cockapoos (Cocker spaniel and Poodle mixed breed), and the top three crossbreeds in 2025 were Poodle crosses: Cockapoos (5.8% of dogs), Cavapoos (1.5%) and Labradoodles (1.3%) according to the Dogs Trust National Dog Survey [9].
Aims and Objectives The studies aimed to identify any differences in food-related “fussiness” in Poodles and their crosses, as reported by dog owners, compared to non-Poodle breeds, and also to determine any differences in food intake between Labradors compared to non-Labradors.
The Null Hypothesis was that there would be no difference in food acceptance between different breeds.

Methods

Ethics Statement

Ethical approval was not required for these studies. All data were collected under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Guidelines, with all data anonymised and aggregated, and no personally identifiable information used in the analysis.

Data Collection

Quantitative data were collected via a series of questions provided by owners registering for a food subscription at www.butternutbox.com. Data are reported in this paper in accordance with the STROBE guidelines [10].
Data was collected from June 2017 to July 2021 from dog owners in Great Britain using a four-point Likert scale [11] in which 1 =‘very fussy’; 2 = ‘fussy’: 3 = ‘not fussy’; and 4 = ‘foodie’, however, no descriptors or definitions were provided for these categories.
Data on dog breeds were collected from a provided list of breeds and their crosses. For further analysis, the breeds were grouped into two categories: Poodle pure breeds and their crosses (n=65), and non-Poodle breeds (n=291) (Supplementary Table S1).
From February 2022, the following ordinal 4 point Likert scale (Allen and Seaman 2007) was utilised, which gave owners more guidance to help with their description: 1 = Very Fussy (descriptor “repeatedly refuses meals”); 2 = Fussy Eater (“abandons meals sometimes”); 3 = Good Eater (“knows what they like and isn’t adventurous with food”); 4 = Eats Anything (“loves eating just about anything”).
The 2022 -2024 dataset was also analysed to compare eating habits in Labradors to non-Labrador breeds. This dataset included 400,895 dogs located in 5 European countries.

Statistical Analysis

Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp), or R (Version 2023.12.1+402). The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare median values between two groups. Cohen’s d compared the means of the two groups and estimated the size effect. Hedge’s correction and Glass’s delta were used for analysis of the 2017-2021 dataset, utilising the pooled standard deviation (plus correction factor) and the standard deviation of the control group, respectively. The mean values were also analysed by an independent sample t-test.

Results

The dataset collected from 2017 – 2021 contained pure breed Poodles and Poodle crosses (n=65), and non-Poodle breeds (n=291) (Supplementary Table S1).
There were 210,466 dogs included, of which, pure Poodle breeds and Poodle crosses comprised 21.9% (n=46,073).
The 2022-2024 dataset contained over 406,000 single-dog households, comprising 96 different types of Poodles and Poodle crosses and 491 non-Poodle breeds (Supplementary Table S2). Data for dogs described as mongrels, crossbreeds or ‘other’ (n= 30,500) were excluded, so 404,889 dogs were included in the final analysis, and Poodles and Poodle crosses comprised 20.5% (n=82,852) and non-Poodle breeds 79.5% (n=322,037).
Pure Poodle breeds and Poodle crosses in the 2017-21 cohort had a statistically significantly lower Mean Likert score of 2.23 (Median 2) which is a significantly higher degree of “fussiness”, compared to a Mean of 2.54 (Median 3) for Non-Poodle breeds (p <0.001). (Supplementary Table S3).
Across all 5 European countries in the dataset from 2022-2024, 22.4% of Poodle and Poodle-crosses were reported to be very fussy, and 38.9% fussy eaters (total 61.3%), which was statistically significantly higher (p <0.001) than non-Poodle breeds of which 15.2% were reportedly very fussy and 31.5% fussy eaters (total 46.7%). See Supplementary Table S4 for detailed data for dogs in different countries: Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GB, n=294,376), the Republic of Ireland (IRE, n=30,241), the Netherlands (NL, n=32,158), Belgium (BE, n=9717) and Poland (PL, n=38,620).
From the 2022-2024 dataset Labradors represented 6.7% (n= 26,931) of 400,895 dogs, and of these, 23.9% were reported to be very fussy eaters, 11.6% fussy (total 35.5%), 20.0% good eaters and 44% “foodies” which were statistically significant (p < 0.001). compared to non-Labradors, which were 33.9%,17.3%, 22.4% and 26.3% respectively (See Supplementary Table S5 for further details).

Discussion

The proportion of Poodles and Poodle crosses in the two Datasets referenced (21.9% and 20.5%) was much higher than the numbers estimated from surveys (5% to 8.6%). This may be because the previous surveys underestimated the true prevalence, or possibly Poodle and Poodle cross owners are more attracted to the fresh-cooked form of pet food that the sponsoring company markets.
Fussy eating behaviour in dogs is regularly reported, but only a few studies have addressed the question of what underlies fussiness, although it is clear that this trait is associated with reduced risk of obesity [12] and understanding the mechanism(s) involved may help identify strategies to reduce the risk of canine obesity in the general dog population.
Anecdotal reviews from dog owners received by the study sponsors, Butternut Box, suggested a tendency of Poodles and their crosses to be fussier in their eating habits than other dog breeds, but no quantitative studies were available to confirm this observation. In the studies reported here, data were collected from over 615,000 dogs registered with the company between 2017 and 2024 and confirmed that Poodles and Poodle crosses are indeed over-represented as fussy eaters.
Suppression of appetite during eating is moderated through stimulation of the satiety centre located in the ventromedial nucleus of the cerebellum of the brain [13]. Satiety is stimulated by nerve signals generated from stretch receptors in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, blood concentrations of nutrients (e.g. glucose and amino acids: notably branch chain amino acids including leucine, and the non-essential beta-amino acid taurine), enterocyte concentrations of some nutrients (e.g. fatty acids) and hormones released from the gastrointestinal tract (including cholecystokinin, peptide YY (PYY), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1, insulin and leptin). Leptin works by stimulating pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons in the brain. Other hormones, including beta-adrenergic and dopaminergic hormones (5HT), and sympathetic nervous system stimulation with release of adrenaline and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) [14,15,16,17,18].
High protein diets are known to suppress voluntary food intake in dogs [19] and foods high in dietary fibre also suppress appetite, which is why fibre is commonly used to reduce food intake in obese dogs [20,21]
In addition, it is suggested [17] that in dogs “picky eating” may be caused by learned preferences (flavours, textures, shapes), food boredom, environmental stress, negative associations with foods, overfeeding/excessive treating, or from disease conditions or medications needed for disease management that impact appetite.
After sequencing three candidate genes for obesity in Labrador Retrievers, researchers at the University of Cambridge identified a deletion (mutation) in the POMC gene. This deletion disrupts brain signalling and satiety, resulting in greater body weight and fat and increased food motivation. [5]. Labradors also have higher motivational responses to food cues [8] associated with health risks [3,4,22].The current study reaffirmed that Labradors were significantly less likely to be fussy eaters, but more likely to be “foodies” described as “loves to eat just about anything”.
Further studies are needed to identify whether there is a genetic component associated with fussy eating behaviours in Poodles and Poodle crosses, as is suggested by the data presented here, or whether other influences on fussiness are mainly involved, including both human and animal factors. [23,24,25,26].
A small-scale owner-reported survey conducted by Butternut Box in 2023 (Data on file, not reported here) revealed that fussiness was associated with various factors, including specific types of food, times of day, and location. A larger-scale qualitative survey would provide further insight into the relevance of owner behaviours, or environmental stimuli in relation to dogs being fussy eaters.

Study Limitations

All recorded Likert scale scores provided by the dog owners, were subjective, and there will have been overlap between scores applied for dogs with different/similar eating habits. The Likert scale used was a very arbitrary ordinal scale that has not been validated, and may not be repeatable. A wider range of options (for example a 5-point scale) and more specifically defined, scientifically based criteria for Likert scores could have improved the value of the data.
Poodles and Poodle crosses may have been over-represented in the datasets because their owners may have proactively selected the Butternut Box product range compared to owners of other dog breeds and their crosses. A limitation of this study is that it was only possible to access and evaluate data acquired by one commercial pet food manufacturer from its registered customers.

Conclusions

Poodles and their crosses are significantly more likely to be “fussy eaters” (ie repeatedly refuses meals or abandons meals sometimes) than non-Poodle breeds. Labradors are less likely to be fussy eaters but much more likely to be a “foodie” that loves eating just about anything compared to non-Labrador breeds. Further studies are needed to determine why Poodles and their crosses are predisposed to be “fussy eaters”.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Four authors (CC, SC, EG and TL are current, or past employees of the sponsoring company Butternut Box (DogMates Ltd) and were given stock options during their employment. The data was generated by and belongs to DogMates Ltd.

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Kevin McPeake, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Animal Behaviour of The University of Edinburgh for his expert behaviour insights and contributions.

Funding

The studies were funded by Dogmates Ltd and data released from their database and the company analysed the data generated from it.

Author Contributions

Ciara Clarke conceived of the presented idea. Ciara Clarke and Sofia Casson developed the conceptual ideas and proof outline. Ciara Clarke, Sofia Casson and Tanya Leung performed the data analysis and computations of the 2017-2021 data set. Emily Gladstone performed the data analysis and computations of the 2022-2024 data set. Mike Davies is an independent consultant and specialist in small animal clinical nutrition and he was responsible for reviewing the methodology and results and drafting the current manuscript for publication.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the authors. The data that support the findings of this study are readily available from the corresponding author upon request. Further data is available in the Supplementary information provided.

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