Wolfing down food

Hi all,

Our 5 month old puppy has an almost maniacal tendency to wolf down his food. He came from a home with a large number of chis and we think may have had to eat fast to get any food. He doesn't snap or bite when we feed him, just tries to get the food down as fast as he can. I have tried giving him both small and large portions but it doesn't seem to help. Any advice on how to slow him down? I do feed him separate from our other chi so there isn't really any competition for the food.

Thanks!
SusanL

Susan,

I saw a Dog Whisperer show, well a couple of them actually, where he addressed this issue. In those episodes he made the dog calm down before he fed them.

He makes them go to a spot and sit or lay down. When the dog is focused on "the feeder" not the food and is no longer shaking, whining, spinning, etc he tells the dog to "Come". He holds the food until the dog sits its butt on the floor and looks into his face. At that point, he sits the food down and lets the dog eat.

Your pup is only 5 months old so you might have to do this several times until he calms down and realizes YOUR in charge of the food and all is well.

At first, in my house, it was chaos at feeding time. I had Maggie "barking" and Holly whining and jumping.

The whining and jumping also was accompanied by food snitching on Hol's part. She can be a "bit" food aggressive and I felt this was going to become an issue if it wasn't addressed.

I ended up using Cesar's method and they settled down within a couple of weeks. When my little boy Chi, Scooter, came along he never became an issue as he just followed their lead and got in line.

Hope this helps you and your pup.

Syndi & The 3huahuas! (Maggie, Holly, & Scooter)

Hi , i too had my female chi just gobble her food like she would never have another meal and i did teach her to settle down before i gave her her food. She still gets quite excited when she sees me preparing her food so i make her wait just outside the kitchen doorway ill set the food down and make her wait til she is called. I have seen in petco and petsmart these different size balls that go in the bowls to help keep the dogs from gobbling all their food at once so that might help as well. I guess the ball gets in the way of them eating huge portions of their food at once. i think once he learns his feeding routine he will do just fine and it might just be what he was used to like you said so he just needs a little bit of relearning is all. Good luck cookie

I had a boxer this, the vet recommended hand feeding. I would just give her 1 kibble at at time at each feeding, no free feeding. each week I would try putting the bow down for her if she gobbled, I picked up the food and hand fed again, it took about 3 months until I could trust her not to gobble if I I wasnt watching. I always knew when she had gobbled because she would throw up her dinner

You might want to try a Brake-fast bowl. I've heard some success stories. Check around for the best price.

http://www.strangenew...

Or you can try scattering the food on the floor or a cookie sheet (if you are feeding dry kibble). The more you can scatter it around the better. Your dog won't be able wolf it down and it will take awhile for her to clean up the floor.

Keep us posted as to what, if anything, works for you.

Marilyn and "Marissa"

We recently addressed this with Ravi. He was inhaling his food without chewing at all and he was developing a health issue partially as a result. He had started having bad reflux, would cough because particals of food remained in his throat, and he had developed a bacterial infection in his throat. Our vet is very good. He said we should grind up the kibble, use a bowl that slowed him down and elevate the bowl. We did all these things and it has helped alot.

Good luck.
Kevin

OR switch to a Raw Diet. It really slows them down and is much healthier than kibble and canned food.

I feed Bravo:

http://www.bravorawdi...

"The Kids" just love it! Their allergy issues have disappeared, their coats are luxurious and they are healthier and happier than they have ever been before.

Susan

I ditto Susan's post. My dogs still inhale their food, but at least it is already ground up.

I take the raw food and smash it down to line the food dish like a pie crust. They have to work at the food to get it off of the dish