How To Make My Dogs Meals More Fun

I hope you check out today’s video because you’ll get to see Kim eating in some very fun ways and it could give you some great ideas for your dog too!

Here is the video link: https://youtu.be/m1UHeo-cVDQ

Dogs can get bored with the same meal at the same time, fed in the same bowl with the same food every single day. Wouldn’t you?

There are some really great things we can do to help spice up mealtime for our dogs!

1. Slow Feeders

I recently purchased a slow feeder for Kim because she has been eating really fast and I want her to slow down a bit to help her digest her food. Plus, the act of licking is soothing to dogs, so that is an added bonus!

2. Puzzle Feeders

There are lots of puzzle feeders on the market and one of our favorites is the Toppl from West Paw! What is great about a puzzle feeder is that your dog has to use their nose and their brain to figure out how to get at the food and with the Toppl there is a lot of licking going on, so their jaw muscles get a workout and the licking is soothing to them. There are also varying difficulties available in puzzle feeders so your dog can advance!

3. Using food to train

I’ve covered this a few times but one of my favorite things to teach people is to use their dog’s food to train. This serves so many purposes. First, it helps you to not overfeed your dog. You have a certain amount of food to feed each day, so you don’t go over that.

Second, it increases the reward for your dog. Third, it improves your bond with your dog. When we use their food in an enriching way, and educational way, your dog looks to you more. This is my favorite way to train and the best way, in my opinion, to train a solid recall!

4. Scatter feeding

I do hope you watch the video because I have a clip from another video I did a few years ago where I modified scatter feeding for raw feeders. Scatter feeding is pretty much just like it sounds, you scatter the food and your dog has to find it to eat it. Enriching mealtime by having your dog “hunt” for their food.

5. Add fresh, whole foods

I know I talk about this one a lot, but seriously, it is a game-changer! Nutritional variety is important and it helps your dog find more fun at mealtime. Some great foods that you can add to your dog’s food bowl include:

– Broccoli
– Sardines (canned, no salt added)
– Blueberries
– Plain greek yogurt
– Bananas
– Fresh meats
– Organ meats
– Raw meaty bones (non-weight bearing)
– Eggs (raw or cooked)