He thinks every meal is his last

[daniellelv]

Bowzer, my bull terrier is 3 months old. At some point in his life he must have thought he was being starved. He is so insane about food he eats it super fast and often times gags while eating. I feed him a little at a time and i have taught him to "wait" and "go" with his food. I had to teach him this because he would go for his food too fast. i put my hand in his food dish all the time. he never showed aggression but he pushes my hand with his head. it annoys me but i cant seem to get him to stop that. hes a little better with treats, he used to jump on me, grab my hand hard, and try whatever he could to take the treat from me. im starting to teach him to sit nicely for a treat. if he sees food in my other dogs kennel he will pull on the cage bars, bite the cage and try to rip it open. hes fed as much as he will eat, i dont limit him. when he no longer wants the food, i take it out of his kennel otherwise he will tip it. he is fed everyday at the same time. hes so crazy, i look at him and say "now why must you act like that, you are not starving!"

 

[AnnieC]

If he eats too fast, it can become a cause of bloat. You could try putting something in the middle of his food dish to make him take longer to eat, like a kong, or somthing. this will slow him down.

 

[Madeleinemom]

You can also try to place larger rocks in his bowl, so he is forced to nose around them to 'find' his food.

I have also seen specially designed dog food bowls, which are supposed to slow down the speed of food inhalation ... if I am not mistaken, just saw some in the new FetchDog catalogue.

 

[daniellelv]

thats why he gets a big bloated tummy after eating!!! i was wondering about that! thats a great idea. ive seen this bowl at pets mart called "slow down!" im going to have to look into getting one or trying one of your methods, i have couple kongs so i might give that a try! thanks!

 

[Rai_77]

My boy does the same thing. I got him a big huge shallow dish, it's a metal pan, about a foot across with low sides. Now, his food is spread out and he has to take longer to eat.