[Jakeup]

Jakeup has always eaten his food like a madmad who thinks that it will be the last food available on the planet; or should I say " Inhales his food"...I originally thought it was that he must of had to compete for food with other pups when he was with his breeder; I would have hoped this would have settled down now that he has been with us so long....is there any way to train him to take a little slower or any pointers to tricks to help with this. He eats twice daily and does not have any other pets around during feeding....Thanks for your help

 

[Horsy]

There are a couple of things you can do, spread his kibble out on a tray or something flat so he has to pick it up a couple of pieces at a time. Or, what I did with my dog was to get 2 big round pebbles out of the stream and put them in his bowl, then put his food in. He had to slow down to eat around them. You can buy bowls now that do the same thing, they have bits sticking out of the bottom to slow the dog down, but stones are cheaper

 

[Rosemary]

I use a slow-feed bowl for Ilka. It was like $8 from KV Supply (online or catalog, love them). I've seen them for only a few bucks more at Academy. It you use stones, make sure they are big enough not to swallow. There are also toys that you can put the food in, and they dispense it a few pieces at a time (Buster Cube, Kong Wobbler).

 

[PearlPower]

Archie still eats too quickly for my liking at 13 months. We put an upside down Tupperware bowl in his dish, then add the food. He has to eat around it and it slows him down considerably. Good luck!

 

[PatchworkRobot]

I used a slow-feed bowl for a while, though 13 was never an inhaler. Recently I've taken to spreading it out on the patio and/or lawn so that he had to sniff it out. It takes him time to eat the food and it also gives his brain some extra work.

 

[Adara]

I am cheap. I use muffin tins

 

[sasha1]

deep chested breeds like the doberman, boxer, great dane, etc have a higher risk of bloat (google it if you don't know what it is, theres many many links on it).

make sure to get your doberman to rest for an hour after eating to help aviod it.

it also helps if you use a slow feeder bowl like this: Martha Stewart Pets&#0153 Slow Feeder Dog Bowls - Dog - Boutique - PetSmart

...or you could make your own. i have two metal bowls, one smaller than the other, that fit together perfectly if i turn the smaller one upside down! it works for me : )

 

[StarlightDobe]

Bella still tends to eat rather fast, as does Nexus, but she is slower than Bella. I dont know why they feel they will never get fed again but its how they act whenever food comes out. They harrass me in the morning if I dont feed them by 7:30 and in the evening if not by 6. I make sure they dont eat too fast, but they still try to see how fast they can chomp it down.

 

[o0 sHaDoWoLf 0o]

Odin was The same way, he slowed Down at The age of 7 months he is almost 9 months now. He Used to eat like his life depended on it, now he eats super slow and will even walk away from it to check on me then go back to it.

 

[Patches Mom]

When I first got Buddy he inhaled his food I hand fed him made a great bonding time then i slowly put the food in his bowl one hand full at time.

 

[Jakeup]

Thanks for all the tips....all are great ideas...I started the muffin pan for now; mini mufins at that....he has really slowed down; takes a good 5 minutes to eat; the 1st day I used a large falt platter; he knocked it over and then he looked like pack man eating each peice off the floor....chomp chomp chomp.....that was fun to watch

 

[flaminscotch]

Have you considered free feeding? We have done it with all 4 of our dogs, 2 Dobermans, 2GSD.
Honestly, never had a problem, even as a pup. My dogs seem to understand there is always food in the bowl and don't feel the urgency to devour as much as they can, as quickly as possible.

Your pup might not understand the first day. We know Dobermans are exceptionally bright so give him a few days. Keep a small amount of kibble in his bowl as often as you can.
If Jake eats TOO much, it will come up. He will probably just eat til he's full.

We have done it this way for almost 20 years. I can't promise it would work for every dog but it has worked well for ours.

 

[SpecialK]

Rowan used to be exactly like that. I used to feed him out of the Kong Wobbler. If you haven't seen it, its like a giant Kong with a weighted bottom and a keyhole big enough for the kibble to fall out. He would have to bat it around to get the food to spill out and then would eat it up off the floor. This slowed him down considerably, AND tired him out! WIN-WIN

He started to slow down around 8-9 months, actually to the point where he selectively skips meals or leaves half the food occasionally now.

 

[Rosemary]

Have you considered free feeding? We have done it with all 4 of our dogs, 2 Dobermans, 2GSD.
Honestly, never had a problem, even as a pup. My dogs seem to understand there is always food in the bowl and don't feel the urgency to devour as much as they can, as quickly as possible.

Your pup might not understand the first day. We know Dobermans are exceptionally bright so give him a few days. Keep a small amount of kibble in his bowl as often as you can.
If Jake eats TOO much, it will come up. He will probably just eat til he's full.

We have done it this way for almost 20 years. I can't promise it would work for every dog but it has worked well for ours.

The only time I've ever free fed a dog was when I got Gin. She was a good twenty pounds underweight, and my vet advised to have food in front of her 24/7. Once we got her weight up to where she belonged, we switched to meal feeding. She was never a fast eater, though. She could make 2 cups of food last for 15 minutes.

Lots of times, dogs who are free fed develope weight issues. They can also sometimes develope resourse guarding issues, especially if there is more than one dog in the household that they are "competing" against for said resourses.

As for eating too much, and "just throwing it back up", that would be the good news. The bad news could be that he doesn't give it back, and bloats.

 

[Pupps]

Are you still on this forum?

 

[Rosemary]

Are you still on this forum?

Welcome to DT.

The OP's last activity on the forum was in March of 2013. If you have a question, you would be better off starting a new thread.