Author Topic: Feeding not in a bowl  (Read 1639 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Gordona

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Feeding not in a bowl
« on: December 04, 2021, 07:39:07 AM »
Hello,

Looking to get some advice on moving away from bowl feeding to something more stimulating.

Questions are: what age do I start this? My pup is 14 weeks old. And what toys should I use to feed him with? Flying saucer? Ball?

Attach links to these things would be amazing too!

Help!

Offline vixen

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2100
  • Stevie and Marley
Re: Feeding not in a bowl
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2021, 09:14:23 AM »
I have used Kong stuff a ball and also the normal kong to stuff with food/treats.
I find a kong stuffed  with tinned sardines (in tomato sauce) and then frozen provides relief from painful gums when teething and keeps puppy happy for quite a while.  I only use half or a third of the tin so very cheap.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/kongs/dental_dog_toy/139262?mkt_source=1454718&variantid=139262.1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9Xn6Uhkbcdote8n2JRbr96cHsuG&gclid=CjwKCAiAwKyNBhBfEiwA_mrUMjeNKScxT_b3_CSekwDRYOFb9uq1qFRZHJZ3prgKweUG2lwpYBmfGhoC3-cQAvD_BwE

You can find Kongs in most pet shops but the stuff a ball I have only seen on line.
Kongs are great for stuffing with lots of different foods and then freezing.
Max (GSP)  always in my heart

Offline Katrina

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 45
Re: Feeding not in a bowl
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2021, 02:12:24 PM »
We use a treat dispensing ball with kibble in, a snuffle mat and a kong. I bought a puzzle toy that needs plastic cups lifting to get the food out - it was really cheap but Oscar figured it out in about 10 seconds flat at five and a half months... it might have been good when he was smaller. I'm getting him a flying saucer for Christmas  :luv:

A friend suggested wrapping kibble gently in a blanket... the blanket now has three holes in & we only tried it once  :005:

I also use kibble for clicker training and settle training. We can get Oscar to sleep now by settle training at the right time.

Offline cazza

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7245
Re: Feeding not in a bowl
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2021, 03:06:41 PM »
My pup is fed 4 ways from about 14 weeks old

She gets clicker trained with the first handful or two of her meal
She gets the rest split between a treat ball, flying saucer and a bowl

I have kept using the bowl in case I am away or she needs to stay with someone else - I also add food to the bowl while she is eating

I got the flying saucer from pets at home - but found link below as can’t find it on pets at home website

https://www.lordsandlabradors.co.uk/products/nina-ottosson-dog-treat-maze?gclid=CjwKCAiAwKyNBhBfEiwA_mrUMg1Zsc70oTjcXPKFaTtwn_9MpwejJb2HwAn3f7_YpLKJCU9Y_-amOxoCePUQAvD_BwE

Treat ball also from pets at home

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-home-rubber-treat-ball-dog-toy

I use kongs as treats and put in a bit of kibble to block up the hole at the bottom then mix natural yogurt and tuna fish and then freeze the Kong

I also as a quick treat put in some squirty cheese a small hot dog sausage cut up small and then a biscuit (shape etc) to make it harder to get out

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/classic-kong-dog-chew-treat-toy


Hope the above links work







Offline Gordona

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: Feeding not in a bowl
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2021, 03:20:53 PM »
Thank you for all this amazing information! And links to the toys too.


Offline sophie.ivy

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 121
Re: Feeding not in a bowl
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2021, 09:53:26 AM »
Hi there,

We use Ivy's 12pm feed as a training meal. We mix up a variety of commands and games and use kibble as rewards for sit, down, leave, middle and close. The one we do to get a bit of exercise in and reinforce recall is throw out a piece of kibble, tell her to 'get it' then call her name and give her another piece when she comes back. I also add in a 'twirl', but that's for my own enjoyment really :005:

If she looks like she's losing interest, I scatter the rest of the kibble and ask her to 'go find' or put it in a brain game. We have a spinning bone game (which we took the small plastic bones out of as she ignored the kibble and just picked up the bone and ran round the house with it like a nutter):
https://www.nina-ottosson.com/products/all-products/dog-tornado-new.html
And this one, which took her a bit longer to figure out: https://www.nina-ottosson.com/products/all-products/dog-casino-new.html
(You can find them both on Amazon)

My friend who is an obedience trainer and has x2 cockers showed us this so I can't take credit for it at all!! It's really effective in tiring her out for an afternoon nap (well 1-2 hours peace before the chaos resumes). There's some good videos on youtube showing 'middle' and 'close' training as they're quite tricky to explain and I wasn't familiar with doing them at first (ignore me if you already know how to do this!) Oh, and 'twirl' of course if you want to teach Loki a cute trick that will annoy your gundog trainer...!

I started doing this at around 15 weeks and she loves it :D