One of the tips I read was about feeding from a Kong. Basically it talks about using Kongs (and other treat/food dispensing products) to give dogs their meals from, instead of a bowl. Not to bore anyone with details, but there seems to be a lot of benefits from doing this so I decided to give it a whirl and see how it goes.
One reason (for each dog) that I decided to do this was:
1) Stanley - he eats waaaay too fast and sometimes throws up because of it (appealing, I know)
2) Hank - the post (and other articles I've read) mention how this exercise helps dogs build their confidence. Hank doesn't have confidence?!? I know, it was a hard concept for me to grasp too. But maybe I'll talk more about this at another time.
Long story short, we started doing this about 2 weeks ago. Mon-Fri mornings are hard (because we don't have much time in the mornings), but Saturday and Sunday mornings we feed this way. And they have been getting their dinner this way every night (unless we get home late and feel bad for making them wait so long, I mean they are REALLY good at giving sad puppy eyes).
Over the past few weeks that we've been feeding them this way, I've learned a few things:
1) Stanley is NOT patient and readily makes noises that sound like he is dying from being starved to death, just to make sure we know that he thinks we are taking too long.
2) Hank was very confused at first about this whole Kong thing, although he has chewed on the empty Kong before, he just keeps sitting by his bowl, so we've been giving him his Kong by the bowl. He still takes a while to eat it (which is fine by me) and still leaves some food in the Kong when he walks away.
3) DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF THE DOGS. I learned this one the hard way. It was one of the first days and it didn't even occur to me to watch them or separate them. Well, I had literally just turned around to refill my glass of water when I heard a fight break out behind me. Long story short: Hank was apologetic for the rest of the evening, Stanley was grumbly the rest of the evening and has a hole in his lip (that is now since healed), and they are now separated by a "baby gate" during Kong-time (Stanley is in the hallway on a towel and Hank is in the dining room).
What does Kong time look like?? Like this:
What's in the Kongs: some of their dry kibble-y food, then a bit of food (mashed bananas, mashed carrots, or a dollop of pb), then some more kibble-y food, then sealed off by a little more of whatever the other food-of-the-day was.
I had also read a tip to make the Kong last longer: fill like explained above, then freeze. We tried this for Sunday dinner (when Matt's brother, his gf, and our niece came over). It definitely kept the puppies occupied the entire time we ate dinner! It was awesome! And I'm sure they loved the cool treat from the excessive heat.
What Dog Blogs was I talking about? These 2 are my current favorites:
~ Love and a Six-Foot Leash - written by a couple who has their own "bully" dog and also fosters "bully" dogs from a shelter local to them and helps them get adopted into a perfect furr-ever home. Great stories, great photos, and great advice/tips on general dog care and training.
~ Lucky Dog Rescue - written by Ashley (the owner of the rescue and boarding organization that focuses on "bully" dogs and is in Meridian, Mississippi.
No comments:
Post a Comment