# Anyone ever try one of these to help with a fast eater?



## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

*Premier Busy Buddy Tug-a-Jug Treat Dispensing Dog Toy.*

















I bought one today, it will get here in a few days, hoping it will slow her down. I have a toy that dispenses treats, and she likes playing with that.
I took someone else's advice on here to spread her food on the floor, but that is so messy, and I didn't like the reviews on the bowls with the partitions in them.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

I haven't tried that, but I did buy this for my foster. He was gulping down his food and had horrible gas as a result. Plus I was concerned about bloat! This has helped TREMENDOUSLY!!


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I've always added her rubber balls to the bowl when my dog was a puppy. Not only did she have fun eating, she ate a lot slower. Now she will go and get her favorite ball and her toys with squeekers in them and put them in the bowl on her own. LOL

This is how she eats all the time now.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

jprice103 said:


> I haven't tried that, but I did buy this for my foster. He was gulping down his food and had horrible gas as a result. Plus I was concerned about bloat! This has helped TREMENDOUSLY!!


This is the bowl I was considering, but it had real bad reviews, most saying that the dogs got sores from the partitions? I will try both.


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## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

Haven't tried those bowls...but with our siamese cat who is known to gorge herself, we added a golf ball to her dish so she had to eat around it and it slowed her down. I've heard that laying their food out on like a cookie pan will help.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

jprice103 said:


> I haven't tried that, but I did buy this for my foster. He was gulping down his food and had horrible gas as a result. Plus I was concerned about bloat! This has helped TREMENDOUSLY!!


Ordered one of these too, she will slow down eventually, I am sure.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

Pattycakes said:


> I've always added her rubber balls to the bowl when my dog was a puppy. Not only did she have fun eating, she ate a lot slower. Now she will go and get her favorite ball and her toys with squeekers in them and put them in the bowl on her own. LOL
> 
> This is how she eats all the time now.


The dog didn't take the balls out of the dish? Harley would! :wild:


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

This is how my little piglet eats.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

HeyJude said:


> The dog didn't take the balls out of the dish? Harley would! :wild:


Nope....she would play with the ball in her bowl. LOL She won't eat her food unless she has at least her ball in there with the food. Like I said, she prefers the ball plus a couple of her toys too. Silly dog! LOL


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## Daisy (Jan 4, 2009)

Mine gulps her food and now I feed her in a muffin tin. Not sure how much it slows her, but like it better than the bowl with the plastic spikes. It didn't slow her and eventually got rough around the edges and scratched her face. Someone on here mentioned the tin do that's what we're trying for now.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

HeyJude said:


> This is how my little piglet eats.


What a cutie!


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## spidermilk (Mar 18, 2010)

I don't do these things because my dog is a fast eater, but because I want to tire him out/make him work for his food:

1. Purple Squirrel Guy. Sounds like you have something similar. Also have a Twist-n-Treat which works well, but doesn't hold much food so it isn't good for an entire meal.

2. I get a cardboard box and some scraps of newspaper or butcher paper, then I hide food in the box (aka just dump it in and move some scrunched up paper over it), some of the food I wrap up in scraps of paper. Takes him forever to find it all but also keeps food off the floor. My dog has never ate the paper.

3. I do the muffin tin thing but I put a toy/ball over each hole. Some people say their dog will just step on the tin and flip it or pick it up and dump it, but mine has not figured this out yet.


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

I bought a steel ball from the pet store in the bowl section to put in Brodys bowl. He still eats somewhat fast, but not nearly as fast as he used to.


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## Frankly I'm Frank (Jan 2, 2012)

I got an old vinyl/plastic table cloth and spread the food on it.


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## kitmcd (Aug 31, 2011)

I am going to order this one and see how it does:
Durapet Slow Feed Bowl | Pet Supplies, Horse Supplies, Dog Supplies | KVsupply.com

I had one of the plastic ones and Isa totally destroyed it. Right now I am turning a regular stainless one turned over, which makes it kinda like a doughnut, but it really doesn't hold enough.

I have tried putting balls and even large rocks in (the rocks worked with my lab), but Isa just removes them.


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## NewbieShepherdGirl (Jan 7, 2011)

I have some sort of treat dispensing toy that I've used before to slow Sasha down, but it doesn't hold very much so that gets annoying. I've been just scattering it all over the floor and letting her eat it that way.


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## Klamari (Aug 6, 2010)

When I'm not using her kibble for training, I just toss Rayne's food outside on the deck. Doesn't mess the house, but really slows down her gulping. But then, there is never any snow on the ground here.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

HeyJude said:


> This is the bowl I was considering, but it had real bad reviews, most saying that the dogs got sores from the partitions? I will try both.


Hmmmm....hadn't heard that. He has been using it for several weeks now and it hasn't caused any sores. He definitely takes much longer to eat now and it has really helped the gas!


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## Branko (Feb 11, 2010)

I dont like the busy buddy. My boy was playing with it, swinging it back and and it hit me in my leg. It hurts!


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## Boardwalkgal (Oct 29, 2011)

I use a large metal ball placed into the dish with food to slow down my hoover on 4 legs.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

Branko said:


> I dont like the busy buddy. My boy was playing with it, swinging it back and and it hit me in my leg. It hurts!


I ordered the busy buddy and the bowl with bumps, which ever one works I will use.


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## JanaeUlva (Feb 5, 2011)

jprice103 said:


> I haven't tried that, but I did buy this for my foster. He was gulping down his food and had horrible gas as a result. Plus I was concerned about bloat! This has helped TREMENDOUSLY!!


The bowl shown looks exactly like the one I tried with the Lab who is a gulper. Thing is the plastic is ummmm cheap. Minka carried it outside thru the doggie door this winter, the plastic got brittle in the cold like cheap plastic does and it broke into sharp, and I mean Sharp pointed shards! Thankfully she did not ingest any of the plastic. Just a heads up about certain plastic bowls in freezing weather.


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## s14roller (Nov 18, 2010)

I usually train her during meals so she just eats handfuls at a time...

On the days we are down on time, we found this orange fish shape plastic bowl at the local CVS (it's probably meant to feed cats). We turn it over, and pour the food into there. The dog spends more time trying to lap it all out.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

Got this slow-eat bowl in the mail today, they spent more time figuring how to chew the bowl than eating the food. It won't last long in my house! Harley was more interested in the rubber feet, Uschi was chewing the knobs on it.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

HeyJude said:


> This is the bowl I was considering, but it had real bad reviews, most saying that the dogs got sores from the partitions? I will try both.


My dogs have been eating from these bowls for years now and have yet to have a sore.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

HeyJude said:


> Got this slow-eat bowl in the mail today, they spent more time figuring how to chew the bowl than eating the food. It won't last long in my house! Harley was more interested in the rubber feet, Uschi was chewing the knobs on it.


Pick them up and put them away till next meal! We don't leave them laying around for the dogs to chew on them.


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

Had this for my dog when he was a puppy... really helped with building the desire for food and keeping him occupied. Since he was eating 3x a day it was great to keep him busy for a little while mid-day. Just remember, GSD's are smart little guys and mine figured out the trick pretty quickly. After he did, it took him like 5 minutes to get all the food out lol


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

I currently use a steel ball in a steel dish and still no longer than 40 seconds for a cup and a half of food. Has anyone tried one of these?

Eat Slower Pet Dishes


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

GSDBESTK9 said:


> Pick them up and put them away till next meal! We don't leave them laying around for the dogs to chew on them.


I didn't leave it down, but if I had, it would be a new toy! I have a question?
Here is a photo of Uschi eating out of her bowl, is it too small for her, should I order a bigger one? I ended up putting the last of the food into a smaller dish and put it on the kitchen floor so it would scoot around as she is eating. Had to put the plastic one on carpet, otherwise she would get no food.
I just noticed, my bowl is a little different from the photo of the one I ordered...








her with the stainless bowl.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

Freddy said:


> I currently use a steel ball in a steel dish and still no longer than 40 seconds for a cup and a half of food. Has anyone tried one of these?
> 
> Eat Slower Pet Dishes


You can get a similar dish on Amazon much cheaper than that, with little or no shipping costs.
Forget I said this, the dish you chose is made in USA and looks to be superior quality than the one I bought.


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

We use the command "leave it" and Freyja has to move away from her bowl and sit until release. By babysitting her she slowed down considerably. She has gotten so good at the command that she sits down on her own every few bites until release.


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## skphotoimages (Dec 21, 2011)

I tried a plastic bowl, Diesel thought it was a play toy. I was close to ordering a metal one when I found a thick, very heavy old glass jello mold at an antique store for $3. It slowed him down from 8 seconds to about 2 minutes. Then I tried adding water (not letting it soak, just adding and then feeding) and it slowed him down to 6 minutes or more.
He also occasionally gets the kong feeder one or this other purple ball feeder. Those take him longer but I think he got pawsier after using those. He seems to paw us and everything else more now.


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## HeyJude (Feb 2, 2011)

The bottle with the rope was a bust, they won't play with it, so they don't get food out of it. What a waste of money.


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## *Lisa* (Nov 20, 2011)

We have a puppy that eats super fast! Almost as if she's never fed LOL. We put half of her meal in her bowl with the large metal ball from Petsmart. The other half of her meal goes into the Kong Wobbler. She is in LOVE with this. Not only does it slow her down tremendously, but it gives us some time to get a few things done while shes occupied. 

Her meal in the morning is 1 cup, so 1/2 cup goes in the bowl (we make her sit, and are working on stay until released) and then 1/2 cup into the Wobbler. It takes her about 10-15 minutes to get the 1/2 cup out and she's totally engaged by it 

Kong Wobbler Dog Toy | KONG Company


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

After some thought, I decided to try a muffin pan, 6 muffin size. He can no longer gulp, and I'd say the time has gone from 40 seconds (max) to over 2 minutes.


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## TaraM1285 (Sep 24, 2009)

I use the Tug-A-Jug regularly. It definitely slows the eating, but some dogs have trouble figuring it out initially. It will depend on your kibble size how easy/hard it is for the kibble to get around the rope. If you need to make it easier (at least initially) remove the rope. I've never found tugging with it to be that useful, it takes forever for tugging to release an entire meal so it's easier to just let the dog figure out how to get the food out. I have a number of different food dispensing toys and this is my favorite as far as ease of loading it and the amount of time it takes for the dog to finish a meal.


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