Things Your Dog Will Love Archives • Three Dogs Training

Slow your dog’s Speed Eating!

Slow your dog’s speed eating with enrichment and training.

Snuffle mat for enrichment and to slow her speed eating

A question came to my attention the other day.

Our puppy’s been with us for two weeks now and the speed at which she eats is starting to get out of control. She’s a breed that’s prone to bloat so we know we need to slow our dog’s speed eating. But we tried putting half of her food in her bowl at first and then the second half later but she just wolfs it down just as fast no matter how much we give her. Help!

It is a problem if a dog eats too quickly because swallowed air can lead to bloat and gastric torsion which can be huge medical emergencies.

On the other hand, your puppy is telling us that she’s extremely food-motivated – which will make training her as she grows up that much easier once we slow down her speed eating.

First, some of your pup’s kibble should be wetted with water and allowed to absorb some of that water before it is given to her. This should slow her down a bit.

But then…

There’s a two-word answer to this problem: Puzzle Toys to slow her speed eating.

By delivering some of your puppy’s meantime kibble in a puzzle toy you’ll not only slow down your dog’s speed eating but you’ll also be providing her significant amounts of cognitive stimulation as she has to figure out (and work at) getting her food out of the toy. ENRICHMENT!

There are puzzles toys that deliver food as the dog manipulates them like the Twist ‘n Treat, Atomic Treat Ball, Tricky Treat Ball, Tornado, Snuffle Ball, and others.

We used a few of these to slow our speed eating goofy black LabMix, Porthos. After two bouts of bloat, he spent the rest of his life eating at least 50% of all his meals from on of these puzzle toys.

There are also other great products like snuffle mats, lick mats, the old fashioned Kong, snuffle balls, and snuffle bowls. Some snuffle mats can get pretty elaborate. I choose the simple snuffle bowl for my current dog, but you can go nuts with the variety of puzzle products.

I have one client who puts her dog’s snuffle mat into a box and lets the dog rip the box open to get to the snuffle mat.

In addition to puzzle toys, a good way to slow down the speed of your puppy’s eating is to set aside a portion of her kibble and use it as training treats. She’ll not only eat as slowly as you’d like by you setting the pace of the training session, but you’ll also get a head start on using solid positive reinforcement training techniques to help her become a great dog.

Bottom line… Make it Fun!!!

Great Doggie Lawn

The Great Lawn in Central Park became the Great Doggie Lawn…

For four days after the Global Citizens Concert, the fence around the great lawn was left down…and the dogs moved in.

I swear I could hear all the dogs say, “Best day EVER. And…why not every day?”

Those dogs have a good question. Why not every day?

Our dogs are no longer just pets. We know the power and pervasiveness of the human-animal bond that we have with our dogs.

Our dogs sleep in our beds, sit on our couches, comfort us when we cry, make us laugh when we most need it. They visit strangers in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc., to bring joy and therapy. They work to find, support, and guide their humans as various working and service dogs.

Don’t they deserve some of the fifty-five acres of the Great Lawn more often than just by accident after concerts.

I would imagine that morning dog-play won’t tear up the lawn any more than these huge concerts or any more than hundreds (if not thousands) of baseball cleats do every weekend during the season.

These four days when it was the Great Doggie Lawn were a civilized gift for dogs and their humans who live in an often emotionally and physically challenging city.

Why can’t the Central Park Conservancy give that gift more often by opening up the Great Lawn and other baseball lawns for dogs and humans, even if only occasionally throughout the year?

Infini-tug Toy

The Infini-tug Toy is PetSafe’s replacement for the Tennis Tug. This is my favorite tug toy.

It is soft on the hands for the humans
It is long so allows for a good distance between dog and handler
It can fly nicely so you can do a combo fetch/tug game
It goes in the wash machine and dryer
- A little loud in the dryer, but pretty funny if your dryer has a window and the dog can watch it go round and round.

The down sides are short, but should be mentioned:

While the fleece is comfortable for the handler, it can be easily destroyed by the dog.
- Take it out when it’s tug-time. Put it away when tug-time is over.
  - Don’t leave it alone with your dog – IT WILL BE SHREDDED !
The fringy end can be pulled by the dog leaving the toy a bit misshapen.
- It’s a dog toy – who cares how it looks
- Or, try to keep the dog pulling on the ball end.

Pax’e Learns the Gum Ball Machine

Pax’e learns the gum ball machine is a nice example of trick training using a clicker.

I like using clickers for very specific tricks or tasks.

We’ll see this again when we see more of the nail board –

If you have read some of my other blogs, you will know I am not keen on perfect – just getting where we want to go as happily as possible.

You can almost see Pax’e’s brain cells firing away as she tries to understand how to make the gum ball machine work.

Top three reasons to love the Whole Dog Journal

The Whole Dog Journal has been a staple of mine for more than fourteen years and I recommend it as required reading for everyone who loves their dogs.

The Whole Dog Journal has been a staple of mine for more than fourteen years.

Each year I devour the annual pet dog food (both wet and dry) issues (Reason #1 and pun #1). These analyses allow me to choose the best food based on the specific ingredients and my dog’s needs—not the food that advertises the most.
This leads me to reason #2—No Advertising. Because The Whole Dog Journal does not allow advertisements, all their product articles from food to equipment are well researched and without pressure from advertisers!
Which leads me to reason #3—their staff of writers are credentialed and passionate about their work. They contribute to the research and they have the backgrounds that offer them the knowledge to comment appropriately on topics of health, training, behavior, and more.

Three Dogs Training encourages you to take a look at The Whole Dog Journal if you have not done so already! Maybe even as a gift to you and your pup(s)!