Why does my border collie bolt his food?

Question

I HAVE A 20MTH OLD COLLIE WHOM I HAVE HAD SINCE HE WAS A PUPPY.NO MATTER WHAT I DO TRAINING WISE HE BOLTS HIS FOOD LIKE HE'D NEVER BEEN FED FOR WEEKS. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO TRY TO SLOW HIS INTAKE DOWN BUT TO NO AVAIL.THE THING THAT REALLY GETS TO ME IS THAT MY HUSBAND AND I RESCUED ANOTHER COLLIE A FEW MONTHS AGO WHO HAD BEEN STARVED AND SHE DOESN'T BOLT HER FOOD.WE FEED THEM SEPERATELY AND AS SOON AS THEY ARE FINISHED THEY ARE PUT OUTSIDE SO THAT THE OTHER ONE CAN FINISH IN PEACE. ANY ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO AND WHY HE DOES IT??

Answer 1

this is actually pretty common in border collies. i seen it a lot at the vet clinic i worked at and i have a rottweiler that would do that.

the vet i worked for told me to feed him by his self in a seperate place so that he could not see any other animal. start out by only putting a few pieces of kibble in his food bowl. when he finishs that wait a couple of minutes and then put a little bit more. keep doing this for about 30 mins at a time or until he is finished with the amount that you usually feed him. keep this up and he will gradually learn to eat slower.

remember to praise him after he finish the little bit of kibble tell him that he is a good boy for eating slow and pet and love on him some. he will remember the praise and start to eat slower.

Answer 2

Make your dog sit and stay, in a specific place, before you give him his food. If he moves, take him back to the place you want him. Keep repeating this, every feeding, until he learns that he won't get fed until he's still.
Make sure to give him a command, like "go eat, or come andget it", before he can move. If he goes for his food before he gets the command, or before the bowl is even on the floor, grab him, and put him back, and try it again. He'll get the hang of it. Probly after you've pulled out your hair, and you look like you're ready to shoot someone lol. It's going to be a total pain in the rear, but once he gets it, you'll feel better. He's a smart breed, so unless he was the stupid one of the litter, then he'll pick up on it, pretty quick.

Also, give him smaller meals, more times a day. Like 5 small meals a day. When he wolfs down his food(no pun intended lol I swear!), he's also swollowing a ton of air. And with his breed, he can get something called bloat. Where he swallows so much air, his chest bloats. It's very uncomfortable for the dog, and can be painful at times. So by giving him smaller portions, he won't be swallowing as much air.
Put the other dog outside before you get his food ready. And make sure that no one, and nothing is near him, when it's time for him to eat. He's trying to protect his food, the only way he knows how. That's by eating it, before anyone else can.

How does he act towards the rescued dog? Does he act aggressive towards her? Or does he even like her, or like her being there? If not, then he probly sees himself as the pack leader. And the pack leader eats first. So you can watch how he acts around everyone in the house. If he looks like he's acting like the leader, then make sure ou feed him last. To let him know that he isn't the leader.

You can also try some basic obedience training. You'd be surprised at how many problems come from not having the right type of training!

This just popped into my head. Have you had him checked for worms? Specifically tpe worms? Tape worms eat the food that goes into the stomach, so if he has tape worms, then the worms are eating his food, which is starving him. Causing him to eat his food without chewing lol.

Take him to the vet first of all, then try everything else that you've been advised to! Good luck to you!!

Don't give your dog ol' roy. It's only a filler. It has no nutritional value what so ever! I know, because I had dogs that got sick from it.

Answer 3

My Lab did the same thing for months. Our vet said that eating too fast can cause digestive problems, and she said that we could actually train him to eat more slowly. Her suggestion was to give him his meals in several small portions rather than the whole serving at once. Here's the way it works: Measure the amount of food you typically feed your dog at his mealtime, and put it in a cup or scoop. Put at most 1/4 of the food in your dog's dish. After he eats it, wait a bit (about a 30 seconds - 1 minute) and give him another 1/4 serving. Wait again. Continue this until he eats the whole serving. The whole process should take about 5 minutes. If your dog has a habbit of swallowing his food without chewing it - like my dog - praise him excessively if you ever hear crunching. We managed to extend mealtime from under 20 seconds (no kidding!) to about 2 or 3 minutes. This method is fairly time-consuming, but after a couple of weeks, my Lab got the idea that mealtime should take longer than 20 seconds. We can now feed him a whole serving of food at once. Also, he eats three times a day instead of once or twice a day. Serving his food more frequently at least means that there is less to waff down at any one time! Be patient and give the bits-at-a-time method a try. It worked out pretty well for us. Good luck!

Answer 4

ahhh this is a common problem for dogs from large litters.... they have to woof their food down before their siblings get it and so need to learn there is plenty of food for them...

I have been minding a dog that woofs her food down and although I tried teaching her the bit by bit method to slow her eating I actually found it only made her more anxious about mealtimes so now I have increased her food at mealtimes and between meals there is a constant supply of dry biscuits for her she nibbles on a biscuit now and then... she is getting to know that the food is there for her all the time... oh and some nice big meaty bones helped too because she has to really work at getting the meat off them and it slows her down too...

Answer 5

Try leaving dry food available for them ALL the time. Once the gobbler realizes that his food will always be there he'll stop his gobbling. You can add canned dog food once or twice a day but leave the dry food there and keep it full.

Answer 6

well since he does this you need to feed him lthe can food that is mushy and paste because dogs that gulp food can set them selves up for a condition which causes there stomach to turn and they have to have surgery or can die and it happens from eating to fast (gulping)not chewing just swallowing.so talk to your vet but the mushy like thick can dog food will help since its like peanut butter (the texture) he will have to slow down
a good brand to try is ol roy (walmart)

Answer 7

check out
www.brake-fast.com
Best$14 I ever spent

Answer 8

easy to fix, put a large obleft like maybe a can of soup or a tenis ball or somthing in the center of the bowl then he will have to take his time and eat around it, this worked for my golden

Answer 9

because he likes it.....