Eating - 4 year old not eating

by Nancy
(Venus, TX)

I have a newly adopted 4 years old male Pyr. I've had him about 3 months now. He was previously a totally outside dog but we have easily made him into a lazy house dog. His previous owner says he has been raised on Pedigree kibble and scraps. But for me he won't eat but maybe every other day of any type of dog food whether Pedigree kibble, good can dog food, refrigerated dog foods, etc. Of course, he loves biscuits, our food meat/chicken dishes, etc. But I want him to stick to good dog foods. When he does eat, he will eat 4 cups at a time. He was 140 lbs when we got him and I can tell he's lost a little bit of weight but not much. My concern is whether or not it is ok that he doesn't seem to eat much for a big dog. But he loves his chew rawhide bones and drinks about 3 gallons of water a day. He doesn't "play" like most dogs but loves to lay around in the cool of the house except to go potty and roam for about an hour a day to let the neighbor dogs know that he's around. We do take him on about 30 minute leash walks which he seems to enjoy. He is very gentle with my 5 and 7 year old grandkids that live with me with the exception of a low growl if they come near his chew bones. I don't think he would ever really snap at them though. They are just told to leave him alone when he's taking "chew time". However, he will let me take it from him at any time with no issues, so I know I'm the pack leader. I'm just mainly concerned about his not eating much. He is also very stubborn. He will sit, shake, lie down on command. But "come here" doesn't mean a thing to him, even with a treat. Any suggestions for training a 4 year old more respect for me as pack leader would be appreciated.