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Figured I'd see if anyone had advice on this one.

 

Our Bandit chokes down his food like there's no tomorrow. It's dangerous and I'm just afraid he's going to hurt himself. We have a slo-bowl but it doesn't much slow him down. I've tried hand feeding him, but even then, he snaps at my hands and isn't listening. Same with only feeding a bite at a time delivered into the bowl.

 

He and brother are fed separately, they don't seem to have any issues keeping to their own bowls. I think they only ever had a disagreement about it once, and Kito settled it quickly. Bandit hasn't ever again offered to take brother's food.

 

About the only thing I know of that we haven't tried is feeding them in completely separate rooms.

 

I wonder if maybe he had a bad experience at some point growing up and was either punished using food, or was hungry and unsure when dinner was going to come. They're fed every day at the same time, morning and evening. Any ideas, o wise ones?

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I think you hit it when you said the only thing you haven't tried is feeding them in completely seperate rooms- he may be less threatened and calmer that way. It does seem like from what you described, that he is afraid someone will take away whatever he has, and at one time, went hungry. Poor guy! Hope you solve the problem soon. :huh:

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It may just be a difference in dogs. Our Golden Retriever inhaled her food, the whole bowl GONE in the blink of an eye. Never choked or had digestive issues from it. Kaposia, on the other hand, eats slowly and actually quite delicately. She also seems to have an "off switch." If she's full, she's full, and doesn't always finish what's in the dish all at one time....a "nibbler."

Edited by LakeGirl
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All three of mine are fed together. First I have them all sit and wait. Then place the food bowls on the floor in front of them. Sometimes if the dinner is special, I tell them a little story to make them wait just a bit longer...ha ha. Then I have them look into my eyes (individually) and then I give them the o.k. signal to eat. There was a tiny bit of time where Tolinka and / or Two Step would move in on Rains food. I noticed that Rain was gobbling her food down so that the others couldn't get to it, or back away offering her food to them. I stayed in the kitchen where I feed them, and watched. If one of the older pups started to move in on Rains food before she was finished, I would make a "no no" noise to correct them, and they would back off. Rains eating slowed down. Eventually, Rain found her courage and voice and told the other two to leave her alone while eating.....respectfully, they did. If ever Rain doesn't finish her food because of lack of interest or having enough, I removed her bowl so the other two can't have it. Basically I removed the threat of "stolen" food. Instilled the trust of "this is my bowl." Gave her the courage to defend her food. Now they dine together without a problem. I just love it when they all work together. :wub:

 

All of that being said, some pups are gobblers and some are grazers, just like us two legged creatures. But we all want to eat together, and sometimes we have to wait for the other to finish so we all can go out and play.

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Tayamni is a gobbler or "hoover vacuum". Tayamni is very treat and food driven. I turn around and her bowl is clean - she is done within 1 minute literally. I have to control her food intake to watch her weight and make sure she gets enough exercise. She would eat her food, Coffey's food, the cat food, lick the floors clean .... if I let her (BTW cat food is a NO NO as it has higher levels of taurine? and other minerals dogs don't need that much of). Growing up we had dogs that ate cat food and no issues but ingredients in the industry have changed and my cats now have to have a vet prescription diet).

 

Coffey is a grazer. Also he wants to know what is going on everywhere before or while he is eating. Even though I taught them not to resource guard, I still like them to eat from their own bowl because sometimes I have to add ingredients to one or the other.

 

I taught Tayamni not to eat Coffey's food while he is making sure the house is OK and coming back. (This all happens in a matter of 5 -10 minutes and Coffey is finished).

If Coffey eats all his food they love to lick each other's bowls. I think that's funny. I let them, they swat spit anyway with their gladiator play.

 

Molly, I trained for meal time about the same as you (although we stopped the sitting before meal because Coffey would lose focus. they still wait and watch (NOT underfoot).

 

 

Mommom, I know you tried the bowl that is supposed to help slow down eating, have you tried a different shape or size kibble?

Is Bandit having a hard time digesting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ah hahahaha! So funny.

 

My first dog was a hoover. I would often ask, "Did you chew?"

 

Because of that, I did watch and limit him to avoid certain potential problems. For instance, no lamb chop bones--they are perfect for blocking the esophagus.

 

However, other than needing some water now and then, or throwing up the occasional piece of bone that would not pass, he was okay.

 

My two dogs now are chewers. What a relief. Harder to get pills down them though. It's a trade off.

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Denise, he doesn't seem to have any problems digesting. We're feeding a little bit larger kibble to try to encourage him not choking it down, but...

 

LOL, Allison, I am totally familiar with the "Did you chew it??"

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Oh Pills??????? :huh:

 

Now that's a different story. I'm not sure she chews her food BUT she has a magic tongue that no matter how far I put a pill behind it she somehow spits many pills out or tried to chew them and then spits out pieces!

She does chew bones and treats - she likes to hear the crunch.

 

She definitely doesn't do the recommended amount of chewy on her kibble. I do hear crunching - picture a vacuum cleaner with teeth! :o

 

Mommom, have you tried those treat or kibble dispensing balls? Not to replace regular feeding (maybe displace it a little), I wonder if it would slow him down a little if he has to roll a ball around to obtain one treat or piece of kibble? He may still eat from his bowl just as fast, or not? Even if he vacuumed his bowl with part or most of his kibble if he got the rest from a dispenser tot it would keep him occupied while Kito eats. Maybe?

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Have you tried a treat dispensing ball? I have a wide variety of them that I used when my dogs were on kibble as puppies and they're awesome because they really slow the dog down and require them to think and work to get their food.

 

I like this one for dogs that are nondestructive:
https://www.amazon.com/Starmark-Treat-Dispensing-Puzzle-Ball/dp/B0165RNM1K

 

But if you think he'll try to chew through the toy to get to the food, I would recommend getting a large Jolly Ball egg such as this: https://www.indestructibledog.com/products/jolly-egg?variant=62499482 and drilling a hole in one side right where the curve of the egg rests on the floor when you set it down. You can drill whatever size hole you want, but I made mine pretty small so that it wasn't too easy (and be sure to soften the edges so they are not sharp). Of all the treat balls I have that is the most indestructible, difficult, and time consuming one. Rune took out a LOT of frustrated energy on that thing as a pup and it's still in commission today ;) I may have a video of it in action from when Rune was a pup if you're interested in seeing that.

 

My guys are on raw now, and they don't chew their food either... but dogs aren't really designed to chew. Their natural 'style' is to shear off appropriately sized hunks of meat with their molars and swallow whole. It's very fascinating to watch.. my guys get a lot of wild meat from whatever roadkill I can find and they do a fantastic job sharing whole prey together (turkeys, beavers, deer, etc). It's like watching a nature documentary...and they do eat pretty quickly, but because it's meat it goes down pretty easily and they never have a problem.

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Sentinel Spectrum has a dewormer for tapeworms. Mine don't eat roadkill but will eat sheep poop sometimes while herding and sheep host tapeworms a lot.

These sheep are on a dog safe profolactic dewormer a couple times a year, but I am glad I have them on the heartworm pill that covers tapeworms also.

 

I have friends that eat fresh road kill (although not all the parts that dogs do). If it wasn't so hot in Florida (makes roadkill bad very quickly) that actually isn't a bad way to supplement a homemade diet!

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Roadkill? I don't feel so bad now about Kaposia digging up a nest of baby bunnies for breakfast on Easter morning.

 

That would have been a great addition to our Easter thread. :lol:

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Yes, you have to freeze roadkill for 3 weeks prior to feeding to kill parasites - but after that it's safe to feed. I would feed my guys a 100% roadkill diet if I could get that many critters - it's much better quality food than the factory farmed stuff you can get at the supermarket, and it's free! Now if only I could just get my dogs to eat squirrel... it's the only animal I've offered that they flat out won't touch, and of course the most commonly roadkilled species.

 

I've been feeding my guys roadkill for years now and haven't had an issue with tapeworm or worms in general. :)

Edited by woodrat
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Have you tried a treat dispensing ball? I have a wide variety of them that I used when my dogs were on kibble as puppies and they're awesome because they really slow the dog down and require them to think and work to get their food.

 

I like this one for dogs that are nondestructive:

https://www.amazon.com/Starmark-Treat-Dispensing-Puzzle-Ball/dp/B0165RNM1K

 

But if you think he'll try to chew through the toy to get to the food, I would recommend getting a large Jolly Ball egg such as this: https://www.indestructibledog.com/products/jolly-egg?variant=62499482 and drilling a hole in one side right where the curve of the egg rests on the floor when you set it down. You can drill whatever size hole you want, but I made mine pretty small so that it wasn't too easy (and be sure to soften the edges so they are not sharp). Of all the treat balls I have that is the most indestructible, difficult, and time consuming one. Rune took out a LOT of frustrated energy on that thing as a pup and it's still in commission today ;) I may have a video of it in action from when Rune was a pup if you're interested in seeing that.

 

My guys are on raw now, and they don't chew their food either... but dogs aren't really designed to chew. Their natural 'style' is to shear off appropriately sized hunks of meat with their molars and swallow whole. It's very fascinating to watch.. my guys get a lot of wild meat from whatever roadkill I can find and they do a fantastic job sharing whole prey together (turkeys, beavers, deer, etc). It's like watching a nature documentary...and they do eat pretty quickly, but because it's meat it goes down pretty easily and they never have a problem.

 

What a great idea!!!! Wyot gets mostly raw, with kibble (Orijen) in between, when I haven't had time to go shopping, or there isn't any fresh kills (it doesn't last long, as the birds, coyotes, and foxes will tear anything and eat it quickly). We found two out of four leg bones, with the deer's hoofs still there two days ago...Wyot still found something to snack on, though, lol! It IS like watching a nature documentary! We have friends who have a home in our town, but they are weekenders, who live in the city. Wyot runs circles around the dog (he's a very young 5), leaps like a jack rabbit, and found a dead bird while they are running around in the woods....and it is hard for them to understand that this is the normal way for dogs- they were a bit horrified (ok maybe a lot, lol), that Wyot tore into it with gusto. I explained, and I give them credit for listening and sort of getting it (NOT our dog...he's not even interested)..poor desensitized animal. I bet, though, given time if he lived here full time, he'd start with what was natural to him. They said he ate garbage in the city - cooked, discarded chicken wings- MY turn to be horrified, and explain that cooked bones are a problem, as they can splinter. ...

Maybe it's not how fast they eat, as long as their digestion is running at optimum, and there are no choking problems. :)

 

Thanks for the info, woodrat!

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PS- I've found a book by Juliette de Bairacli Levy on rearing dogs naturally, and she says their digestion is MADE to digest meat whole, raw bones, and even decayed meat- their digestion is acidic for that specific purpose Also, the more you give any kind of meds, dewormers included, the more the natural immune system gets broken down. Nature takes care of itself when you let it...sunshine, clean water, fresh air, touching the earth, eating what is natural. There are grasses and all sorts of weeds (read: herbs) that take care of these problems which dogs gravitate to naturally (albeit, it takes a bit more time, which we are not used to). I have gratefully not had any problems at all with worms. I think I am more afraid of man made unnatural meds than I am of anything in nature, lol!

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I totally agree KittynDoc..........There are grasses and other native plants in my garden that the dogs go to....they sometimes look like little goats foraging in the woods. On the other hand, Tolinka had to teach Two Step "DO NOT GO NEAR THOSE MUSHROOMS." Two Step as a pup would eat anything in sight including a tube of oil paint. yuck!

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I totally agree KittynDoc..........There are grasses and other native plants in my garden that the dogs go to....they sometimes look like little goats foraging in the woods. On the other hand, Tolinka had to teach Two Step "DO NOT GO NEAR THOSE MUSHROOMS." Two Step as a pup would eat anything in sight including a tube of oil paint. yuck!

 

LOL!!! My first dog, a black lab, would purposely go and quickly grab a mushroom before I could say NO (as if to say "see, I can eat what I want, mom")....subsequently, she would have both ends VERY busy and she was feeling woozy, and I would tie her outside close to the house, and hose her down gently after every episode. It was so MESSY, yucky! Never mid the smell...well, after two times, she learned NOT to go. She didn't have a teacher like your Tolinka to steer her away from it.. :)

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The good news is that it was a messy process, not a fatal one. Whew!

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