# How to stop dog bolting food



## pandawolf (Mar 22, 2010)

A few months ago I fed my dog with my parents dog, who eats really quick. Mine started to bolt her food and ended up foaming at the mouth due to unchewed food becoming stuck in her throat.

Ever since then I have had to feed her on her own putting her dry food in a kong which does work but if I give her a bowl with either a small amount of food or large she still bolts it which she also does if I scatter it on the floor, not even chewing it.

Is there a way to get her to chew her food again and slow down.
I have found bowls designed to get her to slow down make her frustrated at trying to get the food and haven't helped except it forces her to eat slow but makes her more anxious to try and get the food through frustration.


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## hazyreality (Jan 11, 2009)

The only thing I could suggest are the anti-gulp bowls, or filling the kong, then putting the kong in the bowl(with food around it) so she has to work around it. 
My grandad was very old school with his dog Tess and just held the bowl, let her have some, lifted while she chewed, then another bit, but I have no idea how well that would work to be honest.
Hopefully someone else will have another trick.


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## GermanShepardOwner (Aug 20, 2012)

You could use her food through out the day for treats, so get her to do some commands, this will get her working for her food aswell as chewing it. At least if she is not chewing it this way it is not such an issue because she wont be taking in alot of air at the time. 

Also scatter feed but in the garden so its more hidden and she has to find the food. 

Kongs are also good, there are also puzzle feeders in pet shops which can be good. 

Also put the food bowl down, she starts eating fast then take away and feed her the kibble, and say slow as you feed it and get her to take it slowly. Then put it back down and repeat.

Ive tried all these methods on various dogs and all have worked, but it depends on the dog and if you do it correctly. But it is something than needs to be sorted.


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## pandawolf (Mar 22, 2010)

With treats unless large she still isnt chewing. Her food is dry kibble and every method I have tried she still isn't chewing it.

She is quite food orientated so I didn't want to encourage her by hiding food outside which might increase her scavenging whilst out on a walk.

The special gulp bowls and kong seem to make her frustrated and are making her more anxious when feeding.

I have tried hand feeding her one piece of kibble at a time and also removing the bowl if she eats fast and again it is making her more anxious and not making her slow down.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2012)

Our youngest Bertie is a gulper and we used an anti gulp bowl to slow him down but the thing that has helped the most is to put his bowl in a quiet corner, get him to wait till I move away then release him and not go near him till he emerges, it took time but having the pressure as he saw it of being nearer the other dogs or us taken away has slowed him down but I think he will always be a faster eater than the other two.


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## GermanShepardOwner (Aug 20, 2012)

pandawolf said:


> With treats unless large she still isnt chewing. Her food is dry kibble and every method I have tried she still isn't chewing it.
> 
> She is quite food orientated so I didn't want to encourage her by hiding food outside which might increase her scavenging whilst out on a walk.
> 
> ...


Ive never known scatter feeding to encourage scavenging, if your dog has a good recall and knows commands then you shoulnt have an issue.

Can you get larger kibble? I would keep going with the kong, shes still getting her food, shes just working for it, she may be getting frustrated but better than bloat!

Methods may make her anxious but you have to be consistent, if she wants her food she will do which ever method you choose. Its better than her gulping the food.


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## Bagrat (Jun 4, 2012)

I wonder about feeding some of it soaked. I realise you may have reasons for not doing this. If it's soaked and then squidged into the kong that should slow her down or even freeze it the day before for part of one meal. ( I'm assuming she has 2 meals). I'm also assuming you haven't got an endless supply of kongs!


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## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

my Cali is a terrible gulper with dry food so tried her with wet and she is far slower with it have you tried feeding wet food cali just licks it up slow rather than inhales it


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## angelofthenorth5 (Jun 3, 2011)

without question just buy an antigulp bowl i bought one for my springer and they work great they sell them on amazon.


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

There are lots of things you can try, lots of good suggestions above, but with some gulpers I've put their food into lots of bowls so they get the impression there is plenty of food for everyone. It can take a while for it to sink in, and don't pick up any bowls (even when empty) while your dog is in the room. You could either put all the bowls on the floor at once, or hand them to her one at a time as she's finishing the previous one. If you don't want to invest in extra bowls you can add more food to her current bowl, but you might find you being near her while she is eating isnt helping her slow down.

I'd also try soaking the food or scatter feeding (this does not increase scavenging that I've ever seen), getting a few more kongs and freezing - I once tried feeding two of my dogs from kongs (just for interest) but I got fed up with the stuffing as I had about 6 kongs to do morning and 12 in the evening so they got enough!

Sadly a lot of dogs are taught they need to bolt their food to get enough when weaned by the breeder and you'll never remove those early impressions. Eating with another dog could have brought this back. Bloat is associated with gulping food as so much air is swallowed, so anything you can do, she may be frustrated but she will get used to it.


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