How do i stop a puppy from scoffing down her food

sparky89

Hi all

I have a 7 week old yorkie cross
I got her when she was 3 weeks old and i had to hand feed her for a week or two and she is now on soilds but will only eat dry food, she doesn't like wet food .
I am now feeding her royal canin mini junior and she gets feed in the morning and in the evening.

When im dishing up her food she howls like made until she gets it and gets very excited that she sometimes wets herself and starts to shake .
When i put down the bowl it almost makes me sick to watch her eat, she scoffs the food, she doesn't even chew she just swallows like shes a starving dog and it makes me angry because she gets fed the best of food and i no shes not starving and its not the way i want my dog to be.
Then when the food is gone she will sit licking the bowl and look for more food and will go around licking the floors looking for somethings else to eat.

I know im feeding her the right amount because i weigh it out everyday and i had her at the vets and the vet said that shes getting feed the correct amount.

I have tried feeding her out of the hand to get her to slow down but she scoffs it even more, i feed her piece by piece and shes just like a hoover and just sucks it up

If anyone has any advise i would really appreciate it as its really starting to annoy me

lilsis

Hi you could get her a bowl like this: http://www.lucysdoghouse.net/brakefastmedium.html

Or even just place an egg cup in her bowl so she has to eat around it. As for how excited she gets before her food could you put her out of the room so she doesn't see you preparing it? Then she might not be as excited about it?!

getz

sparky89 wrote: »

Hi all

I have a 7 week old yorkie cross
I got her when she was 3 weeks old and i had to hand feed her for a week or two and she is now on soilds but will only eat dry food, she doesn't like wet food .
I am now feeding her royal canin mini junior and she gets feed in the morning and in the evening.

When im dishing up her food she howls like made until she gets it and gets very excited that she sometimes wets herself and starts to shake .
When i put down the bowl it almost makes me sick to watch her eat, she scoffs the food, she doesn't even chew she just swallows like shes a starving dog and it makes me angry because she gets fed the best of food and i no shes not starving and its not the way i want my dog to be.
Then when the food is gone she will sit licking the bowl and look for more food and will go around licking the floors looking for somethings else to eat.

I know im feeding her the right amount because i weigh it out everyday and i had her at the vets and the vet said that shes getting feed the correct amount.

I have tried feeding her out of the hand to get her to slow down but she scoffs it even more, i feed her piece by piece and shes just like a hoover and just sucks it up

If anyone has any advise i would really appreciate it as its really starting to annoy me

dont worry, its the animals instinct,wild dogs and wolves would eat as much as is available,they may then not be able to find any more food for weeks on end ,it will grow out of it, will not do the dog any harm

sparky89

lilsis wrote: »

Hi you could get her a bowl like this: http://www.lucysdoghouse.net/brakefastmedium.html

Or even just place an egg cup in her bowl so she has to eat around it. As for how excited she gets before her food could you put her out of the room so she doesn't see you preparing it? Then she might not be as excited about it?!

A few people have suggested these to me i will defo try it out
Thanks for the advise

TooManyDogs

getz wrote: »

it will grow out of it, will not do the dog any harm

The dog might not grow out of it and it can do the dog harm, it can cause bloat and gastric torsion, I know yorkie crosses aren't necessarily prone to it but still I wouldn't risk it. Those anti-gulp bowls are great and like lilsis said putting a egg cup or even an upside mug into her bowl will make her root around for the food.

Sigma Force

Or a cheaper alternative put a few tennis balls in a biscuit tin and put the dog food around them so the dog has to work around the tin to get at all the food.

One of mine used to be like that, she's calmed down a lot she went through a phase but at first I started spreading her food around the garden, it took ages but she had to walk to the next bit to get it so. She'd let a big burp out after eating before that. Latest trick is I soak her dry food, you'd think it would make her eat it faster but the food sticks to itself and makes it harder to eat so she eats a lot slower now.

DBB

sparky89 wrote: »

I have a 7 week old yorkie cross
I got her when she was 3 weeks old and i had to hand feed her for a week or two and she is now on soilds but will only eat dry food, she doesn't like wet food .
I am now feeding her royal canin mini junior and she gets feed in the morning and in the evening.

Hi Sparky,
I remember you posting about your pup a few weeks ago, delighted to hear she's hale and hearty! Well done!
One thing that sticks out from your post is that you're only feeding her twice a day? This may be part of the problem (unless I've picked you up wrong?)
A 7 week old pup should be getting at least 4 meals a day. You're right to be feeding her the right amount, but little and often for such a young pup is really important. I'd hope you'd find that she's less ravenous if she has food in her tum most of the time, bearing in mind that after only a couple of hours after one meal, a pup is hungry again. I've raised a lot of pups here, and learned the hard way to keep food in those little tummies!
Hand-reared pups, especially singletons, can be awkward about eating and can develop behavioural problems around food, because they don't have their littermates to compete with and/or learn from. I'll see if I can find you anything to read about raising a single pup from a behahioural perspective, but for now you should be able to get some valuable guidance from www.dogstardaily.com, you'll find loads and loads of info in the puppy section from some of the world's best puppy behaviourists!
Sorry if you've already answered this somewhere, but is this pup for keepies? Or are you fostering her? You're doing great, what you've done is a great achievement:)

VenusPlays

Our rescue dog has issues around food too. We had a fabulous behaviourist come and see him and she gave us some great advice.
Firstly he has to earn his food with good behaviour - when he is getting a bowl of food he has to sit before its put down and then he has to wait until he is told its okay to eat.
Also he is fed with a kong every second or third meal - kong is filled with dry food mixed with a little wet food. It takes more effort and longer for him to eat.

He is older than your puppy so more receptive to this kind of training but a kong is a definite option for slowing down the eating.

JustAThought

My pal has two yorkies and they are 6 and 4 and they sound just like yours! The first time I was in the house when they were being fed I couldn't believe it; particularly the hysteria and shaking. Sounds like lots of great advise above; I thought you might like to know you re not alone!!!!
BTW she never really disciplined them ; they are adored and super spoilt so don't freak out; you may well be able to train yours out of the squeeling & devouring soon! Best of luck!!!

Mo60

I also have a yorkie. As I got him from a dog pound I am not sure how old he is, although the vet thinks he is around 5-6 years.
He has been gulping his food so fast he ended up choking. After reading the previous post recommending placing an eggcup in the bowl, I tried it last evening - it worked a treat.

sparky89

DBB wrote: »

Hi Sparky,
I remember you posting about your pup a few weeks ago, delighted to hear she's hale and hearty! Well done!
One thing that sticks out from your post is that you're only feeding her twice a day? This may be part of the problem (unless I've picked you up wrong?)
A 7 week old pup should be getting at least 4 meals a day. You're right to be feeding her the right amount, but little and often for such a young pup is really important. I'd hope you'd find that she's less ravenous if she has food in her tum most of the time, bearing in mind that after only a couple of hours after one meal, a pup is hungry again. I've raised a lot of pups here, and learned the hard way to keep food in those little tummies!
Hand-reared pups, especially singletons, can be awkward about eating and can develop behavioural problems around food, because they don't have their littermates to compete with and/or learn from. I'll see if I can find you anything to read about raising a single pup from a behahioural perspective, but for now you should be able to get some valuable guidance from www.dogstardaily.com, you'll find loads and loads of info in the puppy section from some of the world's best puppy behaviourists!
Sorry if you've already answered this somewhere, but is this pup for keepies? Or are you fostering her? You're doing great, what you've done is a great achievement:)

Thank you for your great advise
It was hard work hand raring her but it was all worth it in the end to see her trive.

Here a peek and whats shes like now and im defo keeping her don't think i could part with her after all the work i put in

sparky89

I have tried putting an egg cup in the bowl and she just knocks it over and gulps the food even quicker

On her next meal i am going to try a gong and see is there an improvement

I am now splitting her meals in to four times a day but it doesn't seem like a lot in the bowl when i feed her so im afraid im not feeding her enough

sparky89

Mo60 wrote: »

I also have a yorkie. As I got him from a dog pound I am not sure how old he is, although the vet thinks he is around 5-6 years.
He has been gulping his food so fast he ended up choking. After reading the previous post recommending placing an eggcup in the bowl, I tried it last evening - it worked a treat.

I tried the egg cup this morning and the clever clogs just knocked it over lol

JustAThought

sparky89 wrote: »

I am now splitting her meals in to four times a day but it doesn't seem like a lot in the bowl when i feed her so im afraid im not feeding her enough

Aaaw she's georgous!!!
Dint freak over the food or size: sure look at the tiny size of her; her little stomach is probably barely the size of a teaspoon!

sparky89

A more up to date picture

Mo60

sparky89 wrote: »

I tried the egg cup this morning and the clever clogs just knocked it over lol

She's lovely, no wonder you intend keeping her. Also, must be more intelligent than mine regarding the eggcup

DBB

She's fab! That's some cheeky terrier glint she's got in her eyes!
As justathought says, pup's tummy is tiny, so don't worry about the little portions.

ppink

I had an issue with 2 of ours devouring their food. One of them I put a large rock into her dish so she had to work around it to eat.

The other one was a bigger issue as she would savage her food and then throw up! I started "managing" her dish, so i would get her to sit and calm down and give her a little, then get her to sit back from the dish and relax again and then let her eat another little bit. I slowed her meal out from what seemed like a split second to a minute or more. now it is funny but she eats a lot slower, on her own, and never throws up so I suppose it worked!

Damokc

had this prob with our collie when he was small. you can also use duct tape and tape sections off of the bowl leaving only small areas to get her snout in!:D it does work but I had to replace it often as he would cues it afterwards if he got the chance! does work though

Owen

I've the same problem, but I got this bowl in my local pet shop and it sorted it out. Got one for food and one for drink :



I'd imagine most pet shops can get them, it's a dogit go slow bowl, but I got mine in 4 Paws and a Tail in Cork.

sparky89

Ok just an update

I have tried feeding her bit by bit from my hand and she just swallows it and doesn't chew and nearly bites your hand off to try and get the food, so that hasn't worked :confused1:

I have tried feeding her with a kong and because her food is so small she just empty's it all out and scoffs it in seconds so that didn't work :confused1:

I tried the Rock and Egg cup in the bowl and she ate it even faster and i gave up on that.

I have moved her feeding times to four times a day and its every 4 hours and it stop at 8 or 9 pm, depends on the time of her morning feeds.

I also got a lend of one of those slow feeder bowl off a friend to see would that work before i went out and bought one and because her head is so small she can if it into the bowl and the gaps and the bowl was a small sized one and you cant get any smaller so that didn't work either.

Now she has developed a habit of shaking when she knows she getting fed or getting any type of food, why shes doing this i have no idea or where she got it from. its a full on shake like she freezing or something:

I am now at a stage where i find myself almost getting angry with her when shes eating because ive spent hours with her trying to get her to stop and spent a fortune on trying new things with her and shes just getting worse, I hate feeding her because it almost makes me sick to look a her eating like a starved dog, i even went out a bought a weighing scales to weigh her food to make sure she was getting enough and she is getting the right amount for her size and i got her weight checked by a vet and shes a very healthy weight

I now have no idea what is the next step or what to do with her when it comes to eating and im afraid if i dont get her out of this horrible habbit when shes young she will have it for the rest of her life and i dont want her to become obsessive over food and get dangerous when she doesn't have to :

Can anyone advise me on what to do next please

Kash

Hi Sparky, first off - relax... you are doing nothing wrong, and there is nothing wrong with your beautiful pup.

Don't be worried about the portions - you have proven that they are right, and the vet has confirmed she is a healthy weight. And definitely don't get angry with her, she is acting instinctively as a previous poster said. You don't want your dog picking up on your anxiety/annoyance, so take a few deep breaths before you next feed her.

She's still very young, and mealtimes are probably the most exciting thing in her world right now - and a common reaction to excitement is shaking and weeing, particularly in small pups. Again, this is normal. She'll more than likely grow out of it - however, I would recommend teaching her to sit and wait for her food as soon as you can. There are some great online articles if you need them, but i have found it is a very easy 'trick' to teach dogs - and one that is enforced in our house even when we are dog sitting for other people.

But again - this won't slow her down. Basically, all the eat slowly tricks are designed to stop her being able to gulp lots of food at once, as its the swallowing of air that can cause problems So, if the specialty bowls don't work, or putting a bowl/cup/eggcup/large ball doesn't work, have you tried spreading her food out over a large area? This means that she can only get a little bit at a time, so no matter how fast she hoovers it all up, she won't be doing herself any damage.

I hope that helps somewhat!