how can I teach my dog to stop eating his food so quickly?

Question

my dog (Taz) eats his food really quickly, and he's making himself sick, in fact he was sick in the living room about 10 minutes ago, so do you have any ideas how to slow him down?

thanks for the answers everyone, I'll have to try them

Answer 1

My retriever and shepard do the same thing. The gag themselves because they just inhale the food and dont chew it. What I do is I get their normal amount and spread it in little piles on the floor and make them finish one pile before I let them go on to another pile. or if my husband feeds them in their bowl I will take it away (not recommended if dogs are food aggressive) until they swallow whats in their mouth and keep it down. It is a little time consuming but on the days they are really bad it only takes me about 10 minutes to feed them both. Hope this gives you some ideas.

Also it really is better to feed them at certain times a day instead of leaving it out all the time, because if you have more than one dog and one gets sick and stops eating you wont necessarily notice until the dog gets really sick. If you feed them at specific times and you see that one isnt touching its food you can get it to the vet quicker. If they have food all the time as long as some is missing you might not know something is wrong. Just a thought.

Answer 2

My beagles are the same way! What I've done and it's helped a lot is to put their food in smaller amounts and to feed that off a cookie tray (so the food is all spread out).

Another thing that I use that they LOVE that makes them slow down a lot is feeding using a Buster Cube. It's made of a really hard plastic (even my dobe/beagle mix who can destroy anything can't ruin)- and you put their full (dry only) feeding into the hole and shake until it's way inside the cube. Then you change the little dial to MAX or MIN (depending on how much food you want to come out) and let them figure it out. It takes my dogs 30 mins or more to get their entire meal out of it. See the link below.

I have the mini cube (sold only at Petco) and the regular bustercube for my big boy (he's 60lbs).

Answer 3

This is natural behaviour for a dog, as in the wild they have to wolf down all they can of any kill before the rest of the pack eats it all.

One way to slow your dog down is to give him his meal in several smaller amounts, spaced apart by 5 or 10minutes. It's more work for you, but it gives Taz's stomach time to relay the message back to his brain that he's full.

An alternative that I found worked well with our Alsatian was to put a heavy rock in his food bowl, too big for him to swallow. This meant that he had to lick his food from around and underneath the rock and had the desired effect.

Good luck with Taz, but with some perseverance you'll find it's worth it!

Let me know how it goes.
J.

Answer 4

Dogs are really smart, and even otherwise 'dumb' dogs are really smart when it comes to food. It does mean you need to handle his food (well some of it anyway) and that could really gross you out, but try it with some dog biscuits first. You need to hold the food where he can get it from your hand, and when you've got his attention, or when he moves towards it -say loudly -'Careful!!' until he has looked at you and then the food and approaches it slowly. This also works with dogs who would snatch food from your hand. You mgiht have to also waggle or tap a finger over his nose to get his attention.

Then you can move onto a small portion of food in bowl, put the bowl down and as he moves towards it say strngly 'Careful!!'
and he (might) slow down. Dogs especially smaller breeds should have their food split into 2 anyway.

Answer 5

We adopted a stray and teaching him to eat was a chore. He bolted his food and was very nervous at feeding time. We took turns hand feeding him just a couple of kibbles at a time on our outstretched hands. Meals took 10 to 15 minutes each time, provided a great time to bond and establish yourself as the provider. Our Peppe is now 15 years old and a cherished member of our family.

If your dog is food aggressive this would not be a good idea.

Answer 6

Little bits at a time? Maybe try feeding him smaller amounts but more often?

That's a good question. I'll be interested to read the other answers.

My girlfriend has a shepherd that does the same thing. She's amazed that I can leave food out all day and my dogs won't gorge themselves. Hers would devour the entire bag in two minutes if he was allowed to.

Answer 7

My shepher use to do that; when he's rushing his food I would take is bowl away and let him sit and wait for a min or so then give it back to him saying eat slowly, eat slowly. I also judge if he's full as he will eat for today, tomorrow and the day after that.

If he finishes in 10 mins he's still hungry - if still eating after 15 mins he full

Answer 8

How about feeding little and often? That way Taz won't be able to eat too much... Spread his normal meal into two or three smaller meals over an hour or so... Might work - good luck.

Answer 9

The rock in the food dish is an excellent idea. Many pet stores and specialty shops sell food dishes with large objects in them (similar to placing a rock in the dish, but they are permanently adhered to the dish) to slow down eating. You can also try putting his food in something like a buster cube or kong toy - that way he gets his food, but as a slower pace and while playing. You can trying looking for the dishes and the other toys at pet store websites and I know they have them at www.petedge.com.

Hope that helps.

Answer 10

What works really well is to put a large rock in his bowl. Make sure it's much bigger than he could swallow. They have to eat around the rock and that slows them down. I've done it with one of my greyhounds when he first came. These dogs have always had a short time to eat before their food is taken away so they've been conditioned to gobble it (then throw up). I only needed to do it for a few weeks before he slowed down.