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Has anyone used any product like this one for feeding their dog? It's called Green by a company called Northmate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=xwxBFZG9w5M
The video is appealing, as I have a puppy who wolfs his food down in fractions of a second. I'm wondering if they get frustrated with it though, and maybe try to flip it over.
There must be other products like this on the market. Just wondering what others experiences have been before I try it.
Thanks!
I really like the Buster Cube Treat Dispenser. I give my mini poodle all his meals in it. He LOVES it and it's helped him to lose the weight he needed to lose.
http://www.amazon.com/Buster-Food-Cu.../dp/B0006G54OU
Him playing with it. This was right when I first gave it to him when there is more food so it comes out quicker and also on the easiest setting. I now put it on a harder setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rykEV...1&feature=plcp
I haven't used that particular product, however, I have fed my dog his dinner in several kong type toys including a large purple squirrel. It keeps him busy for probably an hour and it reduced his food aggression as he used to lay by his bowl and just growl.
HAHAHA! Oh, 20 minutes for that dog to eat dinner?
I have read here that spreading out kibble on a sheet tray is a pretty effective way to slow them down, and often more effective than the brake fast bowls and similar, but you're not going to get 20 minutes out of a sheet tray.
Buy one and video your dog using it! I'm tempted to get one just for the hell of it ;)
(Here's a place to purchase, if anyone is interested. The Northmate website is useless.)
Thanks Simkie, I think I will try one!
Don't think I have a big enough cookie sheet to slow the pup down. I've tried spreading it around the bottom of the crate but that didn't slow him down much.
I've used kongs (the traditional frozen ones and dry food ones called the Kong Genius toy) a slow feeder bowl, the tug a jug, the Star Mark Bob alot toy and the Buster Cube and I really like the Premier Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble Dog Toy. Is so awesome that you just screw open the halves of the ball and fill with kibble then give to your dog. You can adjust the ends so more food comes out by cutting off some of the plastic "teeth".
I'd say food time is 15 to 20 min at my house. If I needed it to last longer then I would buy a new toy and not cut any of the teeth out...
The buster cube on hardwood floors will drive you or family members insane in short amount of time. It is really loud.
the Bob alot will not hold enough food for a meal but combined with a Kong Genius toy will make a meal.
The Kong Genius toy is difficult to fill fast, as you practically have to hand load one kibble at a time into the toy. A funnel doesn't work only b/c my funnel jams up (time for a new funnel)
the slow feeder bowl slows the dog down as much as tossing all the kibble onto the floor (or cookie sheet) does... not much at all.
I'll chime in to agree about the slow feeder bowl ;-) we have it for the labrador (it's a regular bowl with notches into it, so the food area is a plus sign shape. It definitely slows her down some, but contrary to what i was hoping for, it doesn't make her actually chew her food. Instead of inhaling and throwing the food into her throat, she now shoves her nose in there and packs her cheeks like a chipmunk, swallowing when she is too full to collect more. But at least it seems like there's less air swallowing....
I would LOVE to get her a genuine slow feeder or puzzle game, and think it'd be great for her, but we just have too many dogs hanging about to make meal time any longer than 5 minutes. If so, id definitely be freezing stuffed kongs and making her solve higher math problems for every single kibble!
I had a big GSD who would wolf his whole dinner down in two gulps..and that was feeding 3X a day. I took his heavy plastic bowl and glued PVC pipe end caps to the bottom of the bowl making it like a pinball maze. Cheap and effective and you could still wash the bowl easily. I also had a glutenous JRT that I fed in an egg carton or muffin tin!! That wouldn't work for a big dog, though!!
normal dogs don't chew the way people and horses do. Dogs don't even have "chewing teeth" in their mouths. Dog teeth are all sharp knives intended to slice chunks of meat off prey. If you watch a dog eat a natural prey animal, you'll see them use their teeth to slice huge chunks of meat off, which they swallow. Dogs can swallow alarmingly large hunks of meat. I had a big dog swallow an entire small rabbit once, fur, bones, ears, and all, and it digested just fine.Quote:
it doesn't make her actually chew her food.
So if you give your dog food that is already in tiny little pieces, like kibble, of course the dog doesn't chew it. He doesn't have any teeth that are able to chew that kind of food. They get it into their mouths and just swallow it. Which is why it's kind of funny when some people go around claiming kibble cleans teeth- of course it can't.
So it's completely normal for dogs to "inhale" bowls of food.
Feeding a dog in a way that makes the dog "work" to eat has many mental benefits though, everything from staving off boredom to improving work ethic to reducing chances of the dog getting overweight.
I prefer the balls like the Kibble nibble or the buster cube that the dog has to actively move around with, or the "puzzles" they have to use their brains to work at.
Or some people just go low-tech and just throw handfuls of kibble out in an area for the dog to run around and find.
I either put a ton of water in my dog's dry food - make it into soup, essentially - or I toss her food out on the floor and scatter it everywhere. She still inhales (or tries to), but at least I know she's not going to choke on it :)
Same as what Saje said...
My daughter's chiweenie is the most food-obsessed beast I've ever met. Drowning his kibble in water slows him down a bit and keeps him from choking. Scattering it all over the kitchen floor worked OK, but god forbid another animal got to a piece before he did...
Yoshi was a hoover, but my slow feeder cost no money -I simply inverted a bowl in his bowl and he had to eat around it.
Paula
I tried this with one of mine. Took her about 30 seconds to figure out how to flip the smaller bowl out of the bigger bowl :lol: She's not real bright, but I suppose the desire for FOODFOODFOODFOOD lent her some ingenuity!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulaedwina
LOL! It is good to have a less complicated dog. Training can be so much easier.
Paula
I've considered a slow feeder for the corgi... to make her half cup twice daily last longer than 30 seconds. I like the look of the Green thing the first post had. We have a black lab as well... unfortunately I think he'd just op not to eat if he had to work that hard lol. If he's feeling even the SLIGHTEST bit "off" he won't eat. He'll leave his food if something way more interesting is going on as well. He doesn't hoover it and I've occasionally seen him eat some and then sit down chew/swallow and then stand back up and continue eating. He's the weirdest lab I've ever met when it comes to food.