# Feeding puppy via Kong vs bowl



## Mr. Bojangles (Sep 15, 2011)

I was reading Ian Dunbar's books and he recommends not using a bowl to feed a puppy. Instead, use a Kong toy stuffed with the pup's food so he can keep busy and work for his food. It sounds logical, but it is the first time I've heard this. The breeder and most other sources I've seen say feed a puppy 3 times a day from a bowl and then 2x a day for an adult. 

Does anyone here follow Mr. Dunbar's feeding advice?


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

I can see using the Kong in place of a bowl, but I would still feed the same amount and at the same times. I personally don't but in a home with one dog, I can see it working.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I must feed from a Kong to keep Toby from inhaling his food. He's closing in on 8 years. It works very well for us. We are a one dog family (for now), but our previous older golden never tried to take Toby's Kongs from him while he ate. I'm not sure how this will work with a puppy though.


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## DreamingGold (Mar 16, 2011)

We actually feed from the Kong Wobbler almost all the time (other times we hand feed), both to keep him from inhaling his food and also to make him work/train- it works great for us!


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## Sosoprano (Apr 27, 2011)

We fed from frozen Kongs exclusively for several months, but then Pippa went on strike for a while (can't say I'd want all my meals frozen either, lol!). Now we alternate. 

And we've tried a Kong Wobbler several times, but she just can't get the hang of it. Despite my taking her paw and showing her how to knock it around, she just licks out whatever she can reach through the hole and then abandons it :doh:


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## Benita (Oct 12, 2011)

I have a better idea than a kong since the opening is pretty big and the food basically just falls out of it. Do you feed dry? We have this ball: 

Omega Paw Tricky Treats Ball Dog Toy - Toys - Dog - PetSmart

Matt likes to inhale his food. We put his dry food once in a while in the ball and he rolls it around for about 10 minutes until everything is gone. Otherwise he needs about 10 seconds to eat his food


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

Beamer eats his dinner out of his kong wobbler every night. He loves it!! Keeps him occupied for about 10 minutes.


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## Benita (Oct 12, 2011)

Rainheart said:


> Beamer eats his dinner out of his kong wobbler every night. He loves it!! Keeps him occupied for about 10 minutes.


Oh right, totally forgot that they have the wobbler kong :doh: Those are great too


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## Mr. Bojangles (Sep 15, 2011)

Interesting. Didn't realize it was so popular. We'll try it. 

If it extends feeding from 10 secs to 10 min....doesn't seem like it accomplishes Dunbar's goal of keeping the dog occupied through the day. But sounds like it has other benefits.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Retriever nut said:


> I have a better idea than a kong since the opening is pretty big and the food basically just falls out of it. Do you feed dry? We have this ball:
> 
> Omega Paw Tricky Treats Ball Dog Toy - Toys - Dog - PetSmart
> 
> Matt likes to inhale his food. We put his dry food once in a while in the ball and he rolls it around for about 10 minutes until everything is gone. Otherwise he needs about 10 seconds to eat his food


I can't get the link to pull up, but if it's the orange ball with the hole for the food--we had a very frightening experience with it when Toby's tongue got caught in the hole. I couldn't stop shaking afterwards it scared me so much.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

We feed dry in the Kong and he moves it around to get all the kibble out. Sometimes we use a tiny amount of peanut butter as a plug, but given the news that peanuts are going to cost 3x normal now, Toby needs to get a job so we can afford the PB.


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## Benita (Oct 12, 2011)

Dallas Gold said:


> I can't get the link to pull up, but if it's the orange ball with the hole for the food--we had a very frightening experience with it when Toby's tongue got caught in the hole. I couldn't stop shaking afterwards it scared me so much.


 
Yes it's the orange one. Really? His tongue? Matt never tried to stick his tongue in it  He just rolls it around with his nose...


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## Candyjanney (Aug 26, 2011)

Pilot only recently understood the kong wobbler I got a month ago and we love it! He eats one meal a day with it, usually his light lunch. Keeps him busy thank god.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Retriever nut said:


> Yes it's the orange one. Really? His tongue? Matt never tried to stick his tongue in it  He just rolls it around with his nose...


Yes, his tongue! I heard the most pathetic whimper coming from him--just broke my heart! This is the one that did this:
Tricky Treats Ball: The best dog toy is not even a toy. - Tricky Treats Ball Dog Toy by Omega Paw - Epinions.com


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## doggiedad (Aug 27, 2011)

i always use a bowl to feed. why does a pup have to work
for his food or be busy??



Mr. Bojangles said:


> I was reading Ian Dunbar's books and he recommends not using a bowl to feed a puppy. Instead, use a Kong toy stuffed with the pup's food so he can keep busy and work for his food. It sounds logical, but it is the first time I've heard this. The breeder and most other sources I've seen say feed a puppy 3 times a day from a bowl and then 2x a day for an adult.
> 
> Does anyone here follow Mr. Dunbar's feeding advice?


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## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

We followed Dunbar's advice when we got Tucker. He ate from kongs for almost a year. It was great, and taught him what he could chew on. Definitely will do it with our next pup.


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

DreamingGold said:


> We actually feed from the Kong Wobbler almost all the time (other times we hand feed), both to keep him from inhaling his food and also to make him work/train- it works great for us!


This is exactly what I am doing with Jordan.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Flora never really cared for having her food frozen in a kong - she would usually ignore it and then it would melt and get all nasty. So I ended up just feeding her from a bowl.

But about a year ago I got a kong wobbler and I would feed her her breakfasts in it right before I went off to work/classes and it was great. It keeps her busy for about 5-10 minutes.


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## BriGuy (Aug 31, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> i always use a bowl to feed. why does a pup have to work
> for his food or be busy??


This is what Ian Dunbar said:

"Without a doubt, regularly feeding a new puppy (or adult dog) from a bowl is the single most disastrous mistake in dog husbandry and training. Although unintentional, the effects of bowl-feeding are often severely detrimental for the puppy's household manners and sense of well-being. In a sense, each bowl-fed meal steals the puppy's raison d'etre — its very reason for being. Within seconds of gulping his meal, the poor pup now faces a mental void for the rest of his day with nothing but long, lonely hours to worry and fret, or work himself into a frenzy."

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/errorless-chewtoy-training


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## mayapaya (Sep 28, 2011)

Hmmm, I also use a bowl to feed Maya, as I have every other golden I have owned--although I also supplement at lunch time with either a Kong with peanut butter, or the Starmark ball filled with cheerios. Maya does gobble up her food fairly quickly, but I never considered that bowl feeding could be putting her through psychological trauma  seems a bit of an extreme statement to me--but whatever works best for your dog!


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

A dog trainer I spoke to at a puppy social says she never feeds her dogs out of a bowl. She always makes them work for it in some fashion. She uses Kongs, or hand feeds after having the dogs practice tricks or commands, and she scatters the food around the yard so they have to use their noses to find it. I give both my dogs Kongs when they go into their crates and they love them (I measure out their food allotment in the morning and stuff the Kong from that). I try to use kibble when training Tucker. But I haven't gone so far as to feed everything outside of the bowl. My older dog is used to having food in a bowl, and I give Tucker some of his that way so he doesn't pounce on hers. :no: But I'm not quite at the point of having all the food come out of my hand, etc. 

From the video of Ian Dunbar that I watched, he had a husky or similar spitz-type large dog. An intense dog that needed to be kept busy or he'd find trouble to get into. Dunbar had a LOT of Kongs and would stuff them all and freeze them. In the morning when he left the house he would scatter them around the room his dog was in. It would take the dog quite a while to get through it all, and then he'd sit and just chew on the Kongs for the "chew fun" of it.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Mr. Bojangles*

Mr. Bojangles

Didn't you get your puppy today? So excited for you!!


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## Mr. Bojangles (Sep 15, 2011)

Karen519 said:


> Mr. Bojangles
> 
> Didn't you get your puppy today? So excited for you!!



Sure did! Pics here:

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...576-please-allow-myself-introduce-myself.html


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

We use the Starmark Bob a Lot, Buster Cube, & Tug a Jug to dispense meals. We use kongs for when we go to work and part of our bedtime rouine.


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## Sweet Summer Time (Nov 24, 2010)

I also use the kong wobbler, to feed. it really slows her down she has always inhaled her food. i put a little bit in her bowl then she knows to go the the living room and wait for the rest in her wobbler. She loves it, she pats it all around, even pick ups with her mouth and suplexes it!


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## Deb_Bayne (Mar 18, 2011)

When Bayne has way too much energy around dinner time we'll put his dry kibble in the kong and he has so much fun banging it around, we never give it to him if we're trying to watch tv though, way too noisy.


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## iansgran (May 29, 2010)

I haven't used the feeding toys for dry kibble for awhile because we have furniture with legs and Jaro keeps knocking it under then goes crazy. I do give him part of his food in a frozen kong, they stays in one place while he licks it out. 
And the reason the kong has that hole in the small end is so you don't get a vacuum, thus stuck tongue. If you put anything in the kong and freeze it be sure the little hole is not clogged up.


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