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Slow your dog’s Speed Eating!

Slow your dog’s speed eating with enrichment and training.

Snuffle mat for enrichment and to slow her speed eating

A question came to my attention the other day.

Our puppy’s been with us for two weeks now and the speed at which she eats is starting to get out of control. She’s a breed that’s prone to bloat so we know we need to slow our dog’s speed eating. But we tried putting half of her food in her bowl at first and then the second half later but she just wolfs it down just as fast no matter how much we give her. Help!

It is a problem if a dog eats too quickly because swallowed air can lead to bloat and gastric torsion which can be huge medical emergencies.

On the other hand, your puppy is telling us that she’s extremely food-motivated – which will make training her as she grows up that much easier once we slow down her speed eating.

First, some of your pup’s kibble should be wetted with water and allowed to absorb some of that water before it is given to her. This should slow her down a bit.

But then…

There’s a two-word answer to this problem: Puzzle Toys to slow her speed eating.

By delivering some of your puppy’s meantime kibble in a puzzle toy you’ll not only slow down your dog’s speed eating but you’ll also be providing her significant amounts of cognitive stimulation as she has to figure out (and work at) getting her food out of the toy. ENRICHMENT!

There are puzzles toys that deliver food as the dog manipulates them like the Twist ‘n Treat, Atomic Treat Ball, Tricky Treat Ball, Tornado, Snuffle Ball, and others.

We used a few of these to slow our speed eating goofy black LabMix, Porthos. After two bouts of bloat, he spent the rest of his life eating at least 50% of all his meals from on of these puzzle toys.

There are also other great products like snuffle mats, lick mats, the old fashioned Kong, snuffle balls, and snuffle bowls. Some snuffle mats can get pretty elaborate. I choose the simple snuffle bowl for my current dog, but you can go nuts with the variety of puzzle products.

I have one client who puts her dog’s snuffle mat into a box and lets the dog rip the box open to get to the snuffle mat.

In addition to puzzle toys, a good way to slow down the speed of your puppy’s eating is to set aside a portion of her kibble and use it as training treats. She’ll not only eat as slowly as you’d like by you setting the pace of the training session, but you’ll also get a head start on using solid positive reinforcement training techniques to help her become a great dog.

Bottom line… Make it Fun!!!

Sprayed by Skunks in Montana

To help your dog avoid being sprayed by skunks, have a handful of distance commands to keep your dog from getting into skunk trouble.

I recently received a question about a dog who keeps getting sprayed by skunks in Montana.

Our dog keeps getting sprayed by skunks. She’s a terrier mix and loves looking in culvert pipes and exploring. We live in the country in Montana and there is so much a curious dog can get into trouble with. She used to not come when we called her. But we’ve been training her with treats and she’s gotten much better at coming when we call. We hate to have to keep her on a leash when we go for walks. Can you make any suggestions?

Thank you, Jennifer

If you enjoy walking your dogs off leash, it’s important to have a handful of distance commands.

The recall or “come” command is at the top of this list. It is the most common in terms of getting your dog back to you and out of harms way.

A “leave-it” at a distance is almost as important. Start by teaching “leave-it” close enough to you so you can reinforce it with praise and rewards. The command is solid when your dog turns away from whatever they have found to get their reward from you.

All of the commands listed here will have to be rewarded with food in the learning stages, and then intermittently forever depending on the dog and the surroundings.

“Sit” or “down” at a distance will allow you to freeze your dog in place for a second or two while you figure things out, or the danger (i.e. skunk, etc.) passes. These could be used anywhere or anytime you need to simply put your dog into a holding position. You will need to be able to reliably request these commands when your dog is close to you. Then you can start to request them at distances farther away from you until you can lock your dog down matter how far away they are.

Some dogs do better with a “stop” command at a distance rather than “sit” or “down.” If they can “stop” their action, but can’t follow other commands in the heat of the moment, that’s fine. Essentially the “stop” command like the “sit” and “down” halt all actions until you tell your dog to do something else.

“Sit,” “down,” and “stop” all have to be trained when you are near your dog so you can easily reward them. Then you can start using a long leash, ten feet, fifteen feet, etc. With this, you can begin to increase the distance you ask your dog to preform these commands. Once your dog is reliable at longer distances, they are ready for off leash work.

Hopefully these ideas will allow you to help your dog avoid getting sprayed by skunks in or out of Montana.

As for Dante – well…

He loved skunks!

Hope that helps and remember, there is just something that dogs LOVE about skunks so keep that skunk wash handy.

Things Your Dog Will Love: Thundershirt

The Thundershirt isn’t a dog toy but it is something they’ll love you even more for if they suffer from anxiety or other phobic behaviors.

The Thundershirt isn’t a dog toy.

It’s not something that dispenses yummy treats.

It isn’t even something that you’d think that your dog would like, but if they experience anxiety from storms, company coming, or crazy human holidays your dog will absolutely love the Thundershirt.

What the Thundershirt is, essentially, is a body wrap that helps the dog become less reactive to anxiety-causing stimuli using deep touch pressure.

Research done in the latter half of the Twentieth Century by Dr. Temple Grandin, amongst others, demonstrated that deep touch pressure had significant positive benefits for individuals on the autism spectrum and those with ADHD. Dr. Grandin’s background with autism inspired her initial research with animals and it was discovered that they can receive the same positive results as seen in humans.

I initially began using the Thundershirt in my own home because Porthos, our black lab-mix, can display episodes of high anxiety related to his OCD, blood sugar fluctuations related to his diabetes, and stress from his other diseases. I also witnessed how well it worked after I suggested that we begin using Thundershirts at ARF, an animal shelter were I consult in Beacon, New York. While we did see similarly positive results in the even more chaotic and reactive atmosphere of a shelter we also saw some Thundershirt eating (more on that below).

So, why would you want a Thundershirt for your own dog?

Well, you wouldn’t if you don’t live in a place that has thunderstorms, high winds, holidays with fireworks, holidays with kids in spooky costumes knocking on your door at night, hunters in the woods behind your house shooting guns, etc. I think you get my point.

The Thundershirt is a great tool to add to our positive reinforcement training bag of tricks and it fills all my personal criteria:

It more often than not does what they say it can do – there’s a definite improvement in reactivity when dogs are wearing it. It is recommended that they first be acclimated to it by having them wear it when they are doing something they love – like taking treats, playing ball, or tug. This allows positive associations along with the physical benefits of the snugness and will help prevent them eating the Thundershirt.
It’s reasonably priced.
I always prefer to exhaust the non-pharmaceutical options available to combat anxiety in dogs before referring owners to a specialist for medical intervention.

One suggestion we have come across – especially in the shelter setting – is to remember that even for kids on the spectrum this kind of pressure has a limited time of effectiveness. Therefore remember that your dog’s Thundershirt will probably only be effective for an hour or so at a time. Simply remove it, give your dog something great to do, and a little while later it can be put back on them.

I find the Thundershirt to be a really good investment for anxious dogs and I think you will, too.

(Please note: if your dog has high anxiety please see a behaviorist before trying things out on your own.)

Thunder! Thunder! Thundershirts, ho!

Thundershirts are a great tool for managing stress – and they’re now available in the Boo-tique!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we’ve just added Thundershirts to the shop.

In case you haven’t ever heard of them, Thundershirts are a great drug-free way to address anxiety, fearfulness, reactivity and over-stimulation when dogs are confronted with noise, separation and other stressors. They employ many of the same principles that are seen in TTouch and use gentle, constant pressure to help the dog regain their focus and composure.

Here’s a link to the Thundershirt website where you can find a whole mess of veterinarian and trainer endorsements.

Sometimes drugs are the way to go when dealing with behavioral issues, but having drug-free avenues to explore first can end up being better for you and your dog in the long run.

P.S. Lawrence insisted on the Thundercats reference. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get it – he had to explain it to me, too.

Top three reasons to love the Whole Dog Journal

The Whole Dog Journal has been a staple of mine for more than fourteen years and I recommend it as required reading for everyone who loves their dogs.

The Whole Dog Journal has been a staple of mine for more than fourteen years.

Each year I devour the annual pet dog food (both wet and dry) issues (Reason #1 and pun #1). These analyses allow me to choose the best food based on the specific ingredients and my dog’s needs—not the food that advertises the most.
This leads me to reason #2—No Advertising. Because The Whole Dog Journal does not allow advertisements, all their product articles from food to equipment are well researched and without pressure from advertisers!
Which leads me to reason #3—their staff of writers are credentialed and passionate about their work. They contribute to the research and they have the backgrounds that offer them the knowledge to comment appropriately on topics of health, training, behavior, and more.

Three Dogs Training encourages you to take a look at The Whole Dog Journal if you have not done so already! Maybe even as a gift to you and your pup(s)!