Picky Dog Will Only Eat Food After Owners Pretend to Add Ranch Dressing - PEOPLE

Zoey, a 14-year-old goldendoodle, is a fussy eater — but her owners have a creative way of persuading her to consume her kibble.

They pretend to "season" the dog food with salad dressing.

In a video posted on TikTok Sunday, Zoey can be seen refusing her food bowl until a (closed) bottle of ranch dressing is waved over it, upon which the food in the bowl seemingly becomes more appetizing.

"Senile dog problems," the dog's owner, Michelle Metrailler, captioned the post, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

"Zoey is on prescription food for her sensitive stomach, so she usually needs wet food on top," Metrailler, who lives in Toronto, tells PEOPLE. 

"We ran out of her canned food, so we were trying to fool her to eat her kibble without introducing anything that could cause her to have tummy troubles," she adds of the ranch dressing trickery.

When Zoey recently celebrated her 14th birthday, Michelle and her husband, Connor, pretended to shake cake sprinkles on her food. However, the canine didn't fall for it.

"She prefers the essence of ranch," Michelle says.

Michelle Metrailler via StoryFul

The hilarious video of Zoey wanting ranch dressing added to her food prompted hundreds of comments, many of which expressed enjoyment over the canine's dining preferences. Commenters also shared their pets' quirky rituals. Michelle credits the video's overwhelming response to its relatability.

"I don't feel so bad now with my fussy Labrador," one person wrote. "He won't eat unless we sit with him like it's a candlelit dinner."

Michelle Metrailler via StoryFul

"My dog would only eat it I put shredded cheese on top," read another comment. "I would literally put one shred, and he would eat. No shred, no eat."

"I just imagine the directions to the dog sitter," wrote someone else.

Michelle says she found comments like the third one particularly amusing.

"She was my family dog, but my husband and I dog-sit her while my parents are away for the winter," she says. "It's funny a lot of responses were saying 'How do you explain this to the dog sitter?' and I was laughing because we kind of are the dog sitters!"

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Michelle describes Zoey as "very demanding and vocal."

"We had company over one day, so we didn't let her on the couch, and now every time she wants to go on the couch, she barks at us for permission," she says. "She is very smart — she's a quick learner — but at the same time, kind of dumb as she hasn't clued into the ranch trick yet."

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Picky Dog Will Only Eat Food After Owners Pretend to Add Ranch Dressing - PEOPLE
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