our rescue chihuahua wont eat dog food?

Honestly, I suggest you boil chicken for the dog forever.

A 5 lb dog eats very little and a $5 package of chicken, poached and then broken into 2-3 days of food at a time and frozen in freezer bags will last a long time.

I would NOT feed the dog most normal human foods.  TINY treats of cheese, whole grain bread, cooked veges if the dog will eat them but I mean fingernail sized are ok, but not regular human food, it’s too spicy and too diverse.

I feed my dogs cooked meat and have a meat/vege stew I make specifically for them in large batches and freeze in smaller packages.  I usually put this over a high grade kibble, about 1/3 meat to 2/3 kibble.  

You could also check out the better quality wet foods.  Chi’s, especially the tiny ones like that don’t have very strong jaws and can have trouble with kibble.  You could also try soaking the kibble in chicken broth (low or no salt) and adding some chicken to it.

Years ago I had a large dog who came to me very fussy about food, wouldn’t eat regular kibble or canned dog food without some human food on it.  It seemed like she had been given human food up to the point when I got her.  I had her for over a decade and when she was pretty old she would not eat anything but turkey.  So for two years I cooked a turkey every 10 days or so because that was all she would eat. Of course I also ate from the turkey and so did my other dogs, I got very creative with cooking my own food, turkey lasagne, turkey enchiladas, turkey with mac and cheese, stir fried turkey, I also made and used lots of turkey broth and fed lots of that to the dogs as well.  I never napped so much in my life...  And I got REALLY good at roasting turkeys, a skill that serves me well around the holidays...

Buy canned chicken.  It is cheaper than Blue Buffalo.  Give him half in the am and half at night.

All dogs like chicken, but feeding a dog chicken every day is not good.  He will gain too much weight and then become sick. Boil chicken very well to remove most fat, also boil  various veggies; ie carrots cut in small chucks, but not very soft.  You can try other veggies also, cabbage is another good veggie.  Give the dog cooked white rice perhaps 3 meals a week.  They like rice but too much will cause weight gain. Now, do not feed your dog dry dog food.That crap is cooked and dried under such high heat until there is no nutritional value in it.  You can also, feed him boiled beef; dry the  most lean, and feed it as you would the chicken.  Don't give up.

Just put the food down & make sure he knows where it is.  A dog will not starve itself if there is food available.  Give him time to adjust to a new environment, new smells, new sounds, new sights.  Just leave him alone to investigate his new environment.  It may take a few days but he will not starve himself if he has food available.

Just put the food down & make sure he knows where it is.  A dog will not starve itself if there is food available.  Give him time to adjust to a new environment, new smells, new sounds, new sights.  Just leave him alone to investigate his new environment.  It may take a few days but he will not starve himself if he has food available.

I would FOR SURE try raw feeding him, aka giving him raw meats and such. DO NOT give him anything with bone that is cooked, because there is a chance it could cut up his stomach when he digests the bones, only raw stuff. I would look up blogs, and info about raw feeding, and look up some websites to order it on. It is easy, it is a little costy, BUT since your dog is small, he shouldn't eat that much. DON'T continue to give him people food, because that is what he is used to. If you don't give him people food, and start raw feeding he will eat the raw food. Also raw feeding helps with dogs health, as dog food, and canned dog food isn't very good for ANY dogs health. So to summarize: Read blogs, and info about raw feeding, find a good high rated company that sells raw food, order some, stop feeding him people food, give him the raw food.  

Stop feeding people food.  He refuses dog food because he KNOWS you will cave in and feed something else.   Offer dog food and ONLY dog food.   It may take a few days but he WILL get hungry enough to eat.

A dog won't starve itself to death because it doesn't like what it's given. You are giving the dog too much choice, and giving in too easily. Giving it human food is bad for it, and your excuse that it won't eat anything else makes no sense. If it is hungry, it will eat. I repeat.... if WON'T starve itself to death .... you are being silly and irresponsible Allow it to go hungry, no scraps, no treats, no human food, nothing..... and then it will eat what its given. End of. 

My wife buys cooked chicken in cans at Costco for her dog. She mixes it with dry dog food.  I don't remember what it costs. 

Some people feed their dogs table scraps.  Look at the teeth.  If the teeth are in terrible shape with bad smell then that is what happened.   You need to let a vet clean up the teeth then start the dog on canned dog food.    Gradually switch over to dry dog food.