Not Chewing Food

[wire]

Is there anyway to teach a puppy to chew his dinner properly?

Our little one gets lots of various foods, which he loves but is just swallowing it and he needs to chew it up a bit. He's thrown up a couple of times (due to over eating) and all the pieces are chuncky, like I gave him!

I'm chopping things up very small now so they digest. He's not having teeth issues at this stage, they are a killing weapons

[persephone]

Try feeding him his meat on the bone- and make sure the bones are too big to swallow- something like a turkey wing, or chicken frame (cut in half, maybe)

that way he HAS to slow down and chew

I'm chopping things up very small now

which encourages him to gulp

feed SLICES /strips of a largeish size...instead of chunks....... but chewing meat off bones is a better way to slow him down.

Edited March 27, 2010 by persephone

[Dogsfevr]

place tennis balls in the bowl.

Does he do it when your hoovering or when your not??

You can also try feeding up higher at present so hes on his tippie toes

[Sandra777]

Why does he need to chew his food? Dogs are carnivores, they don't have the teeth to grind up their food like cows/horses/sheep/humans. They have extremely strong stomach acid designed to digest large lumps, bone and kill off nasties they might pick up while doing dog stuff (eating 'off' food, eating poop, eating flies :D ).

If the pup is vomiting through over eating then stop giving him so much food. If he is vomiting chunks of food then sorry this is actually not incredibly abnormal, dogs are designed to vomit stuff that doesn't agree with them, sometimes they give it a second go sometimes not.

What sized puppy are you talking about? For a pup which will grow into a 15kg dog I will give them anything the size of a chicken thigh all in one piece and they chew off bits off as they like. Chopping his food up small enough for him to swallow whole only encourages him not to use his teeth for the reason they are there.

[Tilly]

My pup was inhaling his chicken drum sticks whole ... which scared me incase he choked on them.

I started giving him his chicken necks / frames etc frozen in bundles big enough that he had to actually chew them up.

[blacklabrador]

My pup was inhaling his chicken drum sticks whole ... which scared me incase he choked on them.

I started giving him his chicken necks / frames etc frozen in bundles big enough that he had to actually chew them up.

Probably more dangerous - frozen bone will splinter and can cause oesophageal and stomach perforation. I would never give a dog frozen bones.

Wire is the dog a labrador? :D

[wire]

Perse, got the message with size, will try larger meaty bones like a lamb shank. Things the size of chicken necks are just swallowed, he also gets cooked chicken/lamb with/without rice, vegies etc, plus kibble.

Showdog, I like the idea of raising his food! He has eaten this way since he joined us 4 weeks ago. Quite insatiable. He'll eat the tennis ball if it's in his plate :D

Our other dog has no interest in food, there's no competition and will willingly give him the food from his mouth.

Sandra, my other dog (same breed) is a champion chewer, everything crunched up nicely before he swallows!

He's just over 9kg, 13 weeks old with a reasonable sized mouth. I'll give him a chicken leg and see how he manages this.

My logic in chopping up his food small was so it digested quicker but I get what you guys are saying. I'll give large sizes a go.

Dogs can get food poisoning by the way, my older dog got a dose a year ago.

[labsrule]

Hmmm I feel your pain as I also have a 6mth old piggy of my own :D He is a Labrador and without shadow of doubt, he is the most greediest of all the Lab pups and adults I have owned, and that is saying something

The little bugger's greed landed him at the emergency animal hospital about 3 weeks ago and he then had to be admitted to hospital at my Vet on a drip the next day. He scared the living daylights out of me as he swallowed big chunk of turykey wing as he was so impatient in trying to chew it down to a reasonable size. Because of his greediness I have always watched him like a hawk when I feed him bones of any description to ensure he chews and just doesn't swallow whole which he started to do with chicken necks and chicken wings I then started buying him large pieces of turkey wings to force him to chew them and he started off ok with actually chewing them and then started becoming frustrated that it was taking him awhile to chew them, so this particular night, he started chewing it and I was watching from inside, then when he settled down for a good old chew I moved away and then went back a couple of minutes later like I have always done and the turkey wing was gone

Later that night, he started vomitting and he went and lay down in part of one of the gardens and I started walking over to him and called him and he came to me and was very unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and his body was starting to shake and he was looking very distressed . I rushed inside to get changed as was in my nightie and rang the emergency animal hospital to let them know I was bringing over and what had happend. I walked over to him as he was outside on the patio and he vomitted again virtually at my feet and brought up a big peice of turkey wing and was still looking very distressed , so I gathered him up and rushed him to the emergency animal hospital. They gave him an injection for his pain as he had been vomitting a lot and antiobiotics and the next morning I had to take him to my vet as he was still pretty unwell and they admitted him on drip and he stayed there for the day. Thankfully he recovered very quickly , but bones were off the menu for a couple of weeks :D

Last week I started to reintroduce bones back into his diet and he still scares me with minimal chewing and lots of swallowing of big pieces Even when I give him a large beef brisket bone, he doesn't chew it down to small swallowable pieces like my other labs have done/do, he still manages to swallow what I consider large pieces He was the biggest of the litter so obviously was king of the food bowl I have always fed my Labs separately, so they can eat in peace without any of the others hovering about either waiting for leftovers which of course there are never any or trying to steal each others food.

It doesn't matter whether he is fed first or last or fed from slow feeder bowls, there is always a race on with him to finish his food the fastest As greedy as he is, he has never ever snatched food/treats from hand/fingers and has been brilliant in this regard as has always taken food/treats gently. His bite inhibition is fantastic and I can remove things from his mouth, which I have had to do a fair bit as he drags in all sorts of things, including a half eaten dead rat and dead baby bird chic and he has never ever nipped/bitten me or any of my family or friends including my young grandchilren. He also has never destroyed or maimed any of his toys as they are completely intact to this day Also from day one I taught him to sit and wait for his food and only eat when I say eat and I can put a bowl of food down in front of him or treats on the ground in front of him and he will sit and look at me and wait for me to tell him to eat.

I just have to continue monitoring him very carefully whenever I give him bones, as I don't think he will be changing his greedy ways anytime soon. :D As I have 3 Labs I never leave food/treats for them if I am out, so they only get food/treats under supervision :D

[TeamSnag]

i have a bitch who hoovers her food... i find i chop the meat up very fine for her.. and i also have to soaked there dry food In water over nite.. Iv have to many near misses where she has choked and has spewed up back up.. Iv also heard of kibble getting stuck and then dog dies... SO soak kibble from now on.. Also helps with bloat... Family member has been breeding dogs for over 40 years and she has always soaked her kibble also...

Edited March 28, 2010 by TeamSnag

[corvus]

Erik has swallowed chicken wings whole a couple of times. For a little 9kg Vallhund pup I found that incredible. Each time he's done it he looked very sorry for himself until he threw it up a minute or so after swallowing it and had another go, this time chewing it first. He hasn't done it in quite some time, now. Hopefully he has learnt! We still keep an eye on him, but he seems to have got a grip and realised there are some things that won't fit in his belly whole. Maybe your pup will learn like Erik did?

[mrs tornsocks]

Not sure if I missed this but what breed is the pup ?

[wire]

Thanks for your commments everyone

Labsrule, what a situation! Your story is terrifying.

I tried a lamb shank and it took him a while to chomp off the meat, so I'll look at things that size or larger otherwise, chopped up stuff.

mrs t, my pup is a Wheaten Terrier

[luffy4688]

My pup was inhaling his chicken drum sticks whole ... which scared me incase he choked on them.

I started giving him his chicken necks / frames etc frozen in bundles big enough that he had to actually chew them up.

Probably more dangerous - frozen bone will splinter and can cause oesophageal and stomach perforation. I would never give a dog frozen bones.

Wire is the dog a labrador?

So it's not good to give my dog his chicken frames frozen? Just wondering because that's what I normally do.

[Daydreamer]

We had a similar problem with our ridgeback pup, our breeder suggested using an old large roasting tin which seems to work well, she has to chase her food around so takes a little longer to eat