Stop Using Food Bowls!

What?  Are you kidding me?  Are you crazy?  If s/he doesn’t eat out of a bowl, how does my dog eat?  Will my dog ever know how to eat out of a bowl?  The answer is: Yes!

Food dispensing toys like the Kong , Kong Wobbler and slow feed bowls are fun feeders!  This takes what is your dog’s favorite time of the day and stretches it from less than a minute into a fun foraging adventure!  Doggy knocks the toy around and the kibbles fall out a few at a time!  How fun is that?  After s/he’s reasonably sure it’s empty, s/he then spends several more minutes using that amazing nose to search the area to make sure s/he got each and every kibble.  Using this process gives your dog so much more mental stimulation than just vacuuming the food up from a bowl in three seconds.  Not just a meal… but an adventure!

You don’t have to invest in toys to make mealtime more fun for your dog. Try putting the kibble and some yummy treats  in a cardboard box and then closing it up.  Your dog has a puzzle!  Clean a creamer container or milk jug without the cap - add a few extra holes and put some kibble in! Woe, a puzzle toy!  My dogs love to play the "Hoover Game" -  I  take the kibble and fling it across the floor.  Then the hunt it is on! Vacuum cleaners!  Take your muffin tin and fill up the cups with kibble!

Are you worried your dog will get fat?  Use a portion of the daily allotment of kibble for training! Instead of adding calories to your dog’s diet by adding in extra food, simply use the calories you are already giving your dog! Instead of one giant reward (a single bowl of food twice a day), you have unlimited opportunities each day to reinforce good behavior by doling out the kibble piece-by-piece for training.
 




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