Keeping Puppy Mentally Active While Eating Their Meals

[poodlefan]

I don't make meal times a boredom buster for one simple reason - I have more than one dog. The only time I ever tried a treat ball, Lily worked her arse off rolling it around to get treats out and Ted ate every single one.

If I had another Puli I would be right as far as the stimulation goes.. but not at the moment .. I want to experience the cording process first to see if I could cope with a second .. love the white ones o/s

poodlefan I have to say .. I need a t-shirt with a photo of a black poodle and photo of my Puli next to it .. constant comments that Noodle is a Poodle. I even had one say she looked like a black Bichon!!

Two of the Puli owners I know have a T-Shirt that says, "No it's not a Poodle, No you don't have to brush the Cords" and a few other statements about Pulik.

[NoodleNut]

"Active working breeds"are not the only intelligent, high energy dogs that need mental and physical stimulation Noodle.

What your're encountering is a difference of opinion from some folk who believe that feeding time isn't an ideal situation to make a dog 'work' for its food. Such "work" can generate negative associations with food including anxiety, frustration and resource guarding.

If it works for you and your dog that's great but other people choose to differ. I like meal times to be a quiet, uneventful and calm time - but as I said, I have more than one dog.

I agree 'active working breeds' are not the only intelligent, high energy dogs ... I am lost at how I could have better posted this suggestion now .. groan. Perhaps it is not a suggestion at all

It was only a suggestion and with any suggestion given to members on this Forum I would have thought 'What works for you' would prevail.

Similarly there are other suggestions on this site that don't work at all for my dog but it does not mean that others ideas may not work perfectly well for some members according to their situation.

The ball certainly keeps her quiet and it is very uneventful and calm .. no running after treat balls to get things out .. just lots of licking a gnawing/chewing at the meat/dry food and veggies stuck together by the ice. Lovely and cool on those puppy gums (she has her new set of teeth at the front, top and bottom).

[trishalouise]

Hi NoodleNut!

Our Noodle (who IS a Poodle!!!) gets treat balls and stuffed Kongs. She gets some dry food and yoghurt in a bowl in the morning and the rest of it is in these objects of torture!! She is obviously suffering as she is a very well adjusted puppy, she doesn't resource guard, we haven't had anything destroyed, she doesn't bark, and is quite happy to curl up with her Kong when we go out! In my opinion this is better than leaving a bored puppy to her own devices during times she needs to be left alone. Roger the Greyhound also gets a Kong and haven't seen any ill effects there either. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

Trish

Edited May 10, 2008 by trishalouise

[chugo101]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll still be giving my Labrador pup her breakfast in an 'entertaining' way, either treat ball, Kong, frozen Chaser ball (bought one yesterday as I thought it was a fab idea!) as I don't want her to feel too lonely when I'm out, its only 2 hours but from what I've heard they can get very lonely! If she doesn't seem happy and it doesn't work for us then I'll stop; but I'm definitely giving it a try.

[NoodleNut]

Hi NoodleNut!

Our Noodle (who IS a Poodle!!!) gets treat balls and stuffed Kongs. She gets some dry food and yoghurt in a bowl in the morning and the rest of it is in these objects of torture!! She is obviously suffering as she is a very well adjusted puppy, she doesn't resource guard, we haven't had anything destroyed, she doesn't bark, and is quite happy to curl up with her Kong when we go out! In my opinion this is better than leaving a bored puppy to her own devices during times she needs to be left alone. Roger the Greyhound also gets a Kong and haven't seen any ill effects there either. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

Trish

Hi Trish .. We need matching shirts!! "My Noodle ain't a Poodle" and "My Noodle IS a Poodle"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is the little Noo???? Haven't seen any photos of her recently.

I agree 'Horses for courses' on this topic ... what works for you and your pup.

Mine has just inhaled her food from her BOWL as she had obedience this morning and then a lovely run around at Lilydale Lake playing fetch ... she was starving!! She doesn't get breakfast until after obedience as she does not have a huge food drive and wouldn't do a darn thing for me if I had already fed her. Tonight she will have the bowl as well ... plenty of other stuff has happened today. Tomorrow morning when I head to work for a few hours she will get the ball and her Aussie Dog toy ... she loves playing with that when we are out.

Obedience went well .. need to work on the 'stand' as I had forgotten about that command and moved on to the 'party tricks' of roll over and shake hands in the weeks we were waiting to get to obedience (had to wait for the 2 C5 vaccines to kick in) .... guilty face .... back to the 'stand' work.

[Kavik]

I had a treat ball ages ago - it got broken pretty quickly! I think I only had Zoe at the time and she pulled some of it apart, I never left her alone with it, I could see the jaw getting stuck! Meal times here are also quiet - each dog gets fed in its crate. Zoe is food possessive with other dogs, and Diesel is a very slow eater! (who lies down to eat ).

[trishalouise]

This Noodle is doing really well thank you!!

I agree on the t-shirts - how funny would that be!!! We have had people asking what a Noodle is - we say her name is Noodle and she is a Poodle!!!

Noodle graduated from her Basic obedience class on Thursday night - with a score of 100/100. I am a very proud Mummy!!! So I guess the environmental enrichment isn't doing her too much damage!!!

I promise I will post a piccie of her soon - would also love to see a recent one of your Noodle!

Trish

[NoodleNut]

This Noodle is doing really well thank you!!

I agree on the t-shirts - how funny would that be!!! We have had people asking what a Noodle is - we say her name is Noodle and she is a Poodle!!!

Noodle graduated from her Basic obedience class on Thursday night - with a score of 100/100. I am a very proud Mummy!!! So I guess the environmental enrichment isn't doing her too much damage!!!

I promise I will post a piccie of her soon - would also love to see a recent one of your Noodle!

Trish

Good to hear Noodle is doing well. For some reason people think 'Noodle' is a boys name and are constantly saying 'he' ... I thought I had a great name that was not gender specific .. we weren't sure of the gender so went for a 'food' which we though would not have a gender ... proved me wrong I have aversion to naming dogs with people names (just me) ... my nephews have names that are very common amongst dog owners and I didn't want to be yelling 'Oscar' at the top of my lungs (or Molly for that matter - friends daughter's name) and 3 kids come running towards me!

Congratulations on graduating from basic obedience .. how old is your Noodle now? Mine is only 22 weeks and only been to 2 classes so far as had to wait for the two C5 vaccines to kick in which has set us back a bit. Hope your Noodle got a lovely treat on Thursday night? :D

Now, photos ... as it happens I have just come inside from bathing, trimming my Noodle and took the opportunity to take some photos as it is cloudy and more possibilities of getting some decent shots in diffuse light .. mind you she is so hard to photograph .. no eyes just a nose to focus on!! Anyway here is Noodle this afternoon .. I am off to have a shower myself now .. smell like wet dog! .. actually smell more like Aloveen conditioner x lavender conditioner .. not too bad just smell like her At least Noo now smells decent .. I think she rolled in something at obedience this morning (after the class while I was talking to the instructor )