# How to teach my dog not to make a mess while eating



## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

Hi all,

I'm sure some of your dogs do this too so I'm hoping someone will have a nice tip or two. How do you get your dogs to eat without making a mess? There always seems to be a fair amount of food "ruined" because they drop it on the floor while chewing. I say ruined because it will have dog hair on it/ dirt, etc...and they never seem to want to eat the pieces that fell on the floor.

When I add warm water it seems to help, but then if i add warm water and they don't eat all the food it gets gross and goes to waste anyhow.

As we all know food isn't cheap so I'm trying to find best way for it to go from the bowl to their stomach with the least wasted.

Thanks!


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

I got a vinyl place mat to put on the floor under the dogs dish. Maybe that would help because it isn't a part of the floor. I also bought the bowl that stops dogs from gulping their food. Maybe if they are eating slower, they won't spill so much.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

thanks Wolfiesmom,

the one dog seems to take a bunch in her mouth, and often times almost intentionally spill it out onto the floor and then eat SOME of it up, leaving a lot.

the other is just messing haha


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

What are they eating out of now. Perhaps if you had a shallow wide bowl, they would be less likely to evacuate kibble to the floor. 









A bowl like this is more likely to have kibble fall on the floor than a bowl like....












Yes the 2nd pic is a roasting pan, but I'm sure you could make an attractive holder for it. lol

Just an idea.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

Sounds like the typical male


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

GSD Sunshine, they are basically eating out of a bowl like your 1st picture. Perhaps a wider, shallower bowl (or roasting pan haha) would help. I actually think with the dog who seems to intentionally move some to the floor this could be a perfect solution. and for the messy puppy, it would help i bet too. thanks


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

This is the bowl I got for Wolfie. The skid stop slow feeder bowl


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

oohhh, laren. the female is worse haha! she's the one who does what seems to be the intentional relocation of the food to the floor...and then of course eats a portion of that and then leaves her mess.

the male puppy, just dives in head 1st without coming up for air


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

interesting looking boy Wolfiesmom.

so how does it work? or whats the theory behind it? basically that then have to take more time to pick out the food due to the outcroppings jutting into the middle?


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

chicagojosh said:


> oohhh, laren. the female is worse haha! she's the one who does what seems to be the intentional relocation of the food to the floor...and then of course eats a portion of that and then leaves her mess.
> 
> the male puppy, just dives in head 1st without coming up for air


 
Maybe she thinks men should do all of the cleaning and she doesn't eat all of her food because she is watching her figure.


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

chicagojosh said:


> interesting looking boy Wolfiesmom.
> 
> so how does it work? or whats the theory behind it? basically that then have to take more time to pick out the food due to the outcroppings jutting into the middle?


That's the theory. They can't grab mouthfuls of food because they cant fit their mouth in it wide open. It is supposed to help prevent bloat.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

cool...and i've heard about how bloat can even kill a dog. sounds helpful. 

hmmm, roasting dish or fancy bowl???

laren - she is a princess dog, so you're probably right lol


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Are your pups taking large mouthfuls and then spitting it out and picking out only the peices they like? 

My dogs are messy eaters, but they'll eat anything that falls on the floor. They don't care if it grows hair, arms, legs & eyeballs they'll eat it anyway. 

It's the mess at the water dish that drives me crazy. I swear Hondo laps as much water as he can and then drools all over the living room just to see us gross out.


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Anyone have suggestions on drinking water AND swallowing BEFORE they walk away???? Jake is a disaster when drinking...

Far as the food on the floor goes....I would let it sit there until she got good and hungry....no way I would allow that. Also they make a ball you can put in the food to slows them down as well. I don't know which is easier on the wallet.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Stosh is like a furry Pez dispenser- picks up a mouthful, walks around and bits fall out all over the floor. The vet suggested I get an elevated feeding station and that has really helped. I guess he was eating at an elevated level himself by having some in his mouth and chewing while standing straight up. He still drops a little now and then but he seems to enjoy the new height and stands there longer to eat.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

Lillie, that could have something to do with it. I am still (like always) transistioning between foods. Only thing is I picked up pieces of both kinds and tried to had feed it to her...nothing.

Lillie and Renee, our pup Cody is the same with water. he leaves a water trail for about 30 seconds after drinking. it's like "come on, lick your chops dude!" haha

Renee, I have tried your suggestion before. I said to myself. fine, if she wants to spread her food out, she won't get anymore until she's eaten the stuff off the floor. basically what happened is i got sick of looking at it/ stepping on it etc, and ended up sweeping it up and tossing it. this morning i tried to hand feed it...she was not having it.

Stosh, glad to know the elevated food bowls helped. so now...it's between roasting pan (wide, shallow dish), fancy dish, evelavated dish. 

see this is why i ask questions here... 3 new solutions to try thanks to you all


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

If you decide on an elevated dish, it should be chest height and no higher. Can't have him reaching up to eat!


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Shasta tips her bowl over on purpose to spill the food out onto her doggie placemat, although sometimes when she's extra enthusiastic, it gets on the floor, too. She does clean it all up, though, so it's not too bad. Now when she does the same with the water, that really makes a mess. (Or when she tries to carry her water bowl to a different spot in the kitche while it's full.)


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## surrealflane (Jul 29, 2010)

after seeing the title of the thread i had to check it out. like a few of you, its the water mess not so much the food. Caoimhe will drink all the water in her dish and turn around and walk towards us letting all the water in her mouth just fall out in a trail across the floor LOL. while it is funny as ****, i'm still wondering if there' anything we can do. we do have a plastic mat with raised edges and an elevated feeding station. 

just glad we're not alone with the water issue


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## Korubell (Apr 6, 2010)

The roasting dish is a sound idea. Put their food bowls inside the roasting dish. Anything that falls out of the bowl will be caught by the dish and can be recycled without fuzz, though I've yet to know the dog who doesn't enjoy food with a bit of household texture attached. My last little girl used to lick marshmallows then roll them on the carpet on purpose, so that they had some texture she could get her teeth into, otherwise she didn't like the slimy feel of them in her mouth.

This same little female wolfed her food and I used the following method to train her to eat sanely. I fed her huge chunks of dog roll (4in diam x 5in long) so she HAD to chew. I also used large chunks of cheap beef in the same manner. Making her chew slowly for a couple of weeks slowed her down to a sensible and tidy level. There was also less regurgitating.


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## Korubell (Apr 6, 2010)

surrealflane said:


> after seeing the title of the thread i had to check it out. like a few of you, its the water mess not so much the food. Caoimhe will drink all the water in her dish and turn around and walk towards us letting all the water in her mouth just fall out in a trail across the floor LOL. while it is funny as ****, i'm still wondering if there' anything we can do. we do have a plastic mat with raised edges and an elevated feeding station.
> 
> just glad we're not alone with the water issue


 Of course there's something you can do about the water. Put her water bowl outside on the porch/verandah/back lawn. Sorry, I'm so used to not feeding or watering dogs inside that it seems common sense to put their food and water bowls outdoors.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Korubell said:


> Of course there's something you can do about the water. Put her water bowl outside on the porch/verandah/back lawn. Sorry, I'm so used to not feeding or watering dogs inside that it seems common sense to put their food and water bowls outdoors.


Don't you worry about attracting wildlife?


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## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

I feed Molly outside on the patio, no mess! She snuffles food out of her bowl but never lets any go to waste! As for the water, she is pretty good inside, but outside she still enjoys tipping her bowl over and dragging it around


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## Korubell (Apr 6, 2010)

paulag1955 said:


> Don't you worry about attracting wildlife?


The wildlife where I live is limited to wild birds and hedgehogs. With my exuberant young boy cats don't stand the proverbial snowball's chance of getting anywhere near his food. There are no natural predators here, and if there were I would consider a different type of pet; something that would live happily in a cage or tank, perhaps. My quarter acre backyard is fully fenced, so no neighbourhood dogs can get in, and there aren't any that roam free, anyway. I can't imagine living in a situation where a large dog like a GSD wouldn't have roaming space in which to do his most important doggie things.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Korubell said:


> The wildlife where I live is limited to wild birds and hedgehogs. With my exuberant young boy cats don't stand the proverbial snowball's chance of getting anywhere near his food. There are no natural predators here, and if there were I would consider a different type of pet; something that would live happily in a cage or tank, perhaps. My quarter acre backyard is fully fenced, so no neighbourhood dogs can get in, and there aren't any that roam free, anyway. I can't imagine living in a situation where a large dog like a GSD wouldn't have roaming space in which to do his most important doggie things.


We have to worry about coyotes, raccoons, possums and the occasional bobcat. The coyotes and bobcats are shy, but the raccoons, especially, are bold, cheeky little beggars. They'll come through dog doors and right into people's houses!


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

Both of mine dribble and drool their food and water everywhere. I just mop their eating area twice a day and chalk it up to owning a dog. If anyone knows a fool proof solution let me know, but until them I'm resigned to the good ole fashioned mop,lol


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## Ucdcrush (Mar 22, 2004)

Walmart sells an aluminum dog dish, the size of a small/medium pizza, it allows the kibble to spread out so they don't gulp it, and they do not push the kibble up the edges, it's under $4.


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