How do you train a puppy to chew its food?

[Rallispec]

We've got an 8~9 month old yellow lab puppy who has a severe eating problem. She basically just sucks up food (we call her Hoover) -- no chewing, and the entire bowl is gone almost instantly. (and its not that we're not feeding enough, the vet said she is slightly overweight)

Okay, so-- swallows a few kibbles... not a big problem, right? Well we give her dog bones on occasion and she devours those as well. Never noticed a problem until she got sick yesterday and threw up -- and had a chunk of a dog bone that came out that was easily 3 inches long. (how she swollowed, i have no idea)

So now we're starting to worry that she may choke on something or get something like a dog bone stuck in her intestines-- So we monitor to her when she eats anything.

Now i want to train her to slow down and actually try chewing once in a while-- but how in the hell do you teach a puppy to chew?

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
We've got an 8~9 month old yellow lab puppy who has a severe eating problem. She basically just sucks up food (we call her Hoover) -- no chewing, and the entire bowl is gone almost instantly. (and its not that we're not feeding enough, the vet said she is slightly overweight)

Okay, so-- swallows a few kibbles... not a big problem, right? Well we give her dog bones on occasion and she devours those as well. Never noticed a problem until she got sick yesterday and threw up -- and had a chunk of a dog bone that came out that was easily 3 inches long. (how she swollowed, i have no idea)

So now we're starting to worry that she may choke on something or get something like a dog bone stuck in her intestines-- So we monitor to her when she eats anything.

Now i want to train her to slow down and actually try chewing once in a while-- but how in the hell do you teach a puppy to chew?

What we did with ours was just keep a food bowl full all the time, so he eats his fill and learns to stop on his own, which he does now, but we have been doing it this way since he was very young.

He is only 5 months old now

 

[Injury]

That's a weird one and would probably require a vet consult in itself.

I'd say you could try giving her the large rawhides that a dog couldn't possibly fit in their mouth, but then the downside is that when she gets towards the end, she may swallow a huge piece of rawhide, which will stick in her throat.

The problem MAY be that she a toothache and won't chew because of it, but that sounds unlikely in a dog that young. Perhaps she is losing her puppy teeth and her adult teeth are coming in.

Again, it would be best if you paid a visit to the vet, because there may be a physical problem.

 

[Rallispec]

we thought it may be worms at first which are making her so hungry. (this dog is coo coo for cocoapuffs when it comes to anything involving food) -- but it was a negative on the worms. And she definetly has teeth and is able to chew-- she just chooses to suck instead.

definetly going to bring it up with the vet the next time we take her in.

 

[43st]

You don't... Just watch her diet and chew toys until she gets out of the "chew everything" phase. I wouldn't give her real bones until she's mature though, they can splitter and rupture internal organs. Puppies will also vomit more than older dogs, it's normal, but keep an eye on it (blood,etc.).

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: Thera
You don't... Just watch her diet and chew toys until she gets out of the "chew everything" phase. I wouldn't give her real bones until she's mature though, they can splitter and rupture internal organs. Puppies will also vomit more than older dogs, it's normal, but keep an eye on it (blood,etc.).

we dont give her 'real bones' -- they're the green bones made up of super compressed parsley (pretty much).. the vet recommended them for puppies.

 

[bluehorizon]

I'd be careful about leaving food out. Your dog could eat too much if food is always available to her. Try breaking up the biscuits when you give them to her. It's not such a problem with dry food and especially wet food.

My dog did that as well. He stopped when he got older. Puppies get into everything, don't worry about it. Just be mindful about the crap around on the floor, making sure to pick up anything they could injest. They're just like children. Break up the biscuits for a few more months. Nothing's going to get stuck in their "intestines"; that won't happen. Dogs have stomach acid too.

Getting a large rawhide could help too. At the very least, it'll give her something to do.

 

[43st]

I recommend this book highly if you're a dog owner.

 

[0roo0roo]

and yes, reada book.

real bones only if uncooked. cooking makes brittle= shatter and all that bad stuff slicy ur dogs belly

anyways, do you only feed it at set times? i just kept the bowl full. always full of the same ol kibble. same ol boring kibble. dog eats when its hungry.thats it. and dry food, since thats best for the teeth, and well..can be left out. suppliment with treats and stuff for nutrition course, but basic food is boring, plentiful, doesn't encourage ravenous eating or whatever...

 

[43st]

We feed only by the spec on the dog food bag, we're very strict about it. Sometimes we'll get the fancy raw stuff and we'll notice weight gain pretty quickly with that. A dog left to there own devices with regard to food will over eat, it's there nature.

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and yes, reada book.

real bones only if uncooked. cooking makes brittle= shatter and all that bad stuff slicy ur dogs belly

anyways, do you only feed it at set times? i just kept the bowl full. always full of the same ol kibble. same ol boring kibble. dog eats when its hungry.thats it. and dry food, since thats best for the teeth, and well..can be left out. suppliment with treats and stuff for nutrition course, but basic food is boring, plentiful, doesn't encourage ravenous eating or whatever...

yes.. set time feeding. Twice a day, same old boring kibble..


and in case thier is some confusion-- we've had many dogs in the past.. currently we also have an 8yr old german sheppard, so we're not new to the dog world. We've just never dealt with a puppy that had such obessive eating behaviors.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Thera
We feed only by the spec on the dog food bag, we're very strict about it. Sometimes we'll get the fancy raw stuff and we'll notice weight gain pretty quickly with that. A dog left to there own devices with regard to food will over eat, it's there nature.

That's why you hsve to exercise them. Labs and retreivers like lots and lots of running and playing. Invest in a tennis racket and tennis balls for exercise for him.

I agree with the keeping the dog food bowl full. You might also want to handfeed him the biscuits and hold them so that he can't swallow them whole.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Rallispec

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and yes, reada book.

real bones only if uncooked. cooking makes brittle= shatter and all that bad stuff slicy ur dogs belly

anyways, do you only feed it at set times? i just kept the bowl full. always full of the same ol kibble. same ol boring kibble. dog eats when its hungry.thats it. and dry food, since thats best for the teeth, and well..can be left out. suppliment with treats and stuff for nutrition course, but basic food is boring, plentiful, doesn't encourage ravenous eating or whatever...

yes.. set time feeding. Twice a day, same old boring kibble..


and in case thier is some confusion-- we've had many dogs in the past.. currently we also have an 8yr old german sheppard, so we're not new to the dog world. We've just never dealt with a puppy that had such obessive eating behaviors.

does it live inside?

 

[hevnsnt]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
We've got an 8~9 month old yellow lab puppy who has a severe eating problem. She basically just sucks up food (we call her Hoover) -- no chewing, and the entire bowl is gone almost instantly. (and its not that we're not feeding enough, the vet said she is slightly overweight)

Okay, so-- swallows a few kibbles... not a big problem, right? Well we give her dog bones on occasion and she devours those as well. Never noticed a problem until she got sick yesterday and threw up -- and had a chunk of a dog bone that came out that was easily 3 inches long. (how she swollowed, i have no idea)

So now we're starting to worry that she may choke on something or get something like a dog bone stuck in her intestines-- So we monitor to her when she eats anything.

Now i want to train her to slow down and actually try chewing once in a while-- but how in the hell do you teach a puppy to chew?

LOL.. Welcome to owning a lab. =) I have a 110 lb chocolate, and he inhales everything too..

 

[spidey07]

labs are supposed to chew?


That's news to me.

 

[0roo0roo]

did u just get it? 8-9months is kinda old already i think... did it come from a place where it had heavy food competition? is it kept separate from the other dogs during feeding so it doesn't feel a threat?

 

[eakers]

Originally posted by: Gothgar

Originally posted by: Rallispec
We've got an 8~9 month old yellow lab puppy who has a severe eating problem. She basically just sucks up food (we call her Hoover) -- no chewing, and the entire bowl is gone almost instantly. (and its not that we're not feeding enough, the vet said she is slightly overweight)

Okay, so-- swallows a few kibbles... not a big problem, right? Well we give her dog bones on occasion and she devours those as well. Never noticed a problem until she got sick yesterday and threw up -- and had a chunk of a dog bone that came out that was easily 3 inches long. (how she swollowed, i have no idea)

So now we're starting to worry that she may choke on something or get something like a dog bone stuck in her intestines-- So we monitor to her when she eats anything.

Now i want to train her to slow down and actually try chewing once in a while-- but how in the hell do you teach a puppy to chew?

What we did with ours was just keep a food bowl full all the time, so he eats his fill and learns to stop on his own, which he does now, but we have been doing it this way since he was very young.

He is only 5 months old now

my aunt and uncle breed chocolate and yellow labs. you can't give a lab a bowl of food like that because labs will eat until they vomit and then keep eating.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: Thera
You don't... Just watch her diet and chew toys until she gets out of the "chew everything" phase. I wouldn't give her real bones until she's mature though, they can splitter and rupture internal organs. Puppies will also vomit more than older dogs, it's normal, but keep an eye on it (blood,etc.).

especially chicken bones - they tend to break apart and "splinter" moreso than other bones.

i agree with Thera. give her bones when she's older...

 

[datalink7]

Don't give your dog any kind of bones that they can swallow, ever. I know someone who's dog swallowed a bone and it pierced the dogs stomach.

What I do is go to the store and get those bones that you put in Bone Soup. They are nearly impossible for a dog to break (my pit bull couldn't do it and they have one of the strongest jaw strengths). You get like 3 for $1.00.

edit: By the way, my sisters lab used to eat really fast as well. In fact, he would eat anything. Her other dog puked once and the puppy snarfed it down before anyone could do anything. Used to call him the barfer-snarfer.

But he eventually grew out of it. Still a quick eater but doesn't inhale the food anymore.

 

[RKS]

labs don't chew their kibble. If you want to slow him down put the food on a cookie sheet so it spreads out a little and he can't inhale as much in one gulp.

Oh and as far as toys, good luck finding something that doesn't get destroyed before you even get back from the pet store. Our lab, Bacon, eats and later poops out his Kong toys.

 

[BlamoHammer]

Originally posted by: Rallispec

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and yes, reada book.

real bones only if uncooked. cooking makes brittle= shatter and all that bad stuff slicy ur dogs belly

anyways, do you only feed it at set times? i just kept the bowl full. always full of the same ol kibble. same ol boring kibble. dog eats when its hungry.thats it. and dry food, since thats best for the teeth, and well..can be left out. suppliment with treats and stuff for nutrition course, but basic food is boring, plentiful, doesn't encourage ravenous eating or whatever...

yes.. set time feeding. Twice a day, same old boring kibble..


and in case thier is some confusion-- we've had many dogs in the past.. currently we also have an 8yr old german sheppard, so we're not new to the dog world. We've just never dealt with a puppy that had such obessive eating behaviors.

This is correct. Dogs, no matter how conditioned they are to feeding times, will simply keep eating if you put food in front of them. They revert back to instinct and since they dont know if this is the last food they will see for awhile, eat as much as they can in order to be able to hold out in times of no food. Twice a day, regular kibble, with treats for good behavior

 

[thomsbrain]

a lot of dogs don't chew their food. it's natural: they need to eat as much as they can before their pack mates eat it all up! they don't even really have much in the way of molars to chew with in the first place.

as far as swallowing big chunks of bone, you basically need to make sure you are not giving your dog toys that can be eaten like that. get compressed rawhide, or if that doesn't do the trick (and it won't for some dogs), you may just have to give it nylabones. my parents little dog is so crazy it can go through a nylabone in a week or two (most dogs can go a lifetime on one bone), but nylabone makes a special bone called the galileo bone which is practically indestructable.

btw, those "greenies" are like popcorn to a bg chewer. they just go down too fast. if your dog is that crazy of a chewer, i don't recommend them. they just swallow them down and get sick. better to give it a biscuit for a treat and a tough chew bone for the chewing.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I always pre-chewed our dog's food...

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
did u just get it? 8-9months is kinda old already i think... did it come from a place where it had heavy food competition? is it kept separate from the other dogs during feeding so it doesn't feel a threat?

we've had her for about 5 months... never really thought much of her eating problem until recently though when it looked like it may cause issues.


And compared to our german sheppard, who is the worlds SLOWEST eater ever - it makes things seem worse than they probably are.


And yes-- she eats / destroys just about anything she can fit between her jaws. shoes, toys,... anything of the sort... forget about it.


gotta love puppies

labs don't chew their kibble. If you want to slow him down put the food on a cookie sheet so it spreads out a little and he can't inhale as much in one gulp.

interesting idea.. definetly worth a shot for the humor factor, if nothing else

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I always pre-chewed our dog's food...

:thumbsup: