# Puppy Inhales Food



## tmk101 (Sep 16, 2007)

I have not posted in a very long time. Since my last post on my Cooper, my family has a new addition in the household... a female GSD. She is from our same breeder and shares the same Dad as Cooper. She is sweet as can be, but right now Cooper has a love/hate relationship with her.

Let me get to the point of my posting. Chloe inhales her food at her different feeding times. She does not even chew the food. I have tried to say "easy" to her and it doesn't work. Whether she is eating from our hand, or the bowl she is like a vacuum cleaner. Because of this behavior I started to feed her by hand to slow her down, but she still eats like she has never tasted food before. She is almost 15 weeks old now, and my family has had her since she was 8 weeks old.

If anyone has any advice on how I can curve this habit I would greatly appreciate it.

Enjoy your day.
tmk101


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

My dogs were like that till I got one of these:

http://www.brake-fast.net/

No more inhaling.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Welcome Back!!
You could feed her by hand just to slow her down. Karlo eats really fast, too. I feed raw so there were many times when he swallowed the chicken wings or necks whole. I was hesitant to give the leg 1/4's! But he has learned that he can take a bit more time while eating and I feed him seperately from my other dogs. Competition from the littermates added to the feeding frenzy-though Karlos breeder fed them seperately in crates.


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## windwalker718 (Oct 9, 2008)

I had one dog who scarfed food up so fast he'd almost inhale it (literally) I got him an oversized bowl... and some HUGE rocks (we're talking 6-8") and put the food in the bowl... as he had to eat around the rocks it worked quite well. If you try it be sure to get Huge rocks though to avoid any danger of the dog swallowing the rock. The video on the Break-fast-bowl is designed along those lines. You could also put the food in a metal cupcake pan so the dog's got to work harder to get it out of each cup... anything along that line would help...


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## Remo (Sep 8, 2004)

Or, you can put her food in a 12 hole muffin pan!


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

I believe that inhaling food with German Shepherds is something serious to worry about. I truly believe that is the reason why my dog Sam bloated some months ago. No doubt in my mind. He was eating from a raised bowl and he was eating so fast and inhaling so much air that he was bloating within minutes!


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

You can also try putting a rubber ball in her dish to slow her down, this way she has to eat around it.

But the muffin pan sounds like an ideal idea as well.

Hopefully you can find something that works.


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## tmk101 (Sep 16, 2007)

Thank you for your replies. I will have to check out the link provided above.

Bloat actually crossed my mind the other day as I was watching her engulf the food from each handful I was providing to her. I would think that she would be considered on the high risk side for this happening to her. My older shepherd eats as slow as a snail... enjoying every mouthful.

I will check out the site above, and try the muffin tin this evening. I like the rocks in the bowl idea too. Once I try one of these methods I will post my progress with my Chloe girl.

Thanks once again for your replies.

Enjoy your day.
tmk101


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: elisabeth_00117You can also try putting a rubber ball in her dish to slow her down, this way she has to eat around it.


 My dogs would just remove the ball. Heavy rocks, however may not be taken out by a hungry hound. A friend has a greyhound who has a triangle shape ball in her dish, I am surprised she doesn't take it out to eat...


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## Amaruq (Aug 29, 2001)

Or you could get one of the treat dispensing toys and make her work for her kibble. Tire the brain and slow down the consumption. Win Win!


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: AmaruqOr you could get one of the treat dispensing toys and make her work for her kibble. Tire the brain and slow down the consumption. Win Win!


Jerzey used to _love_ her food cube. You can get them at Petsmart, even really large ones that will allow you to put all of he pup's meal in it.


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