Wow! You know that old saying about how a certain person has probably forgotten more than that rookie/whomever will ever know? Saturday, we were at the Hartville Elevator (feed/seed/etc) to help celebrate their 100 year anniversary. ‘Twas neat to see the old building with original wood floors and such; if they only could talk, eh?
They had free hot dogs and all kinds of stuff to give away, local FOX Cleveland weatherman Dick Goddard (a big pet supporter) was there, as were a couple hundred friends and neighbors.
During a lull in activity, we struck up a great conversation with a nearby vendor from the JOY pet food company (see cool announcement later…), Chip Kohser. Chip has been in the dog food business since right after dirt was invented. Amazing information.
We know training, Chip knows dogs and digestion. Chip had great insight to dry over wet dog food; while it all goes through their mouth (I know it sounds obvious, it does make a point…), slobbering down wet food requires less chewing and thus less saliva to swallow as it is already pretty wet. Dry dog food on the other hand, requires that the dog chew which creates more saliva which aids in digestion. Now, your dog’s diet (especially if older), may require wet food on the advice of your vet. But if that is not the case, consider a switch to dry.
You all know Murphy, our Golden Retriever, from previous posts. Murphy G.U.L.P.S. (Gobbles Up Large Pawfulls in Seconds) food. I mean it is gone -“NOW”. Two cups of food in under 20-30 seconds. Lexi, our German Shepherd, takes a good minute or two. I asked him how to slow Murphy down. I’m sure you’ve seen the fancy bowls with dimples that make the dog work harder for a bite. Chip suggested finding some real, honest-to-God work river stones (in a large enough diameter to your given dog – that is, large enough so the dog doesn’t break a tooth in their hurry to GULP). These river rocks/stones would naturally be smooth, worn and (one hopes) clean. In our case, we’re going get some a little larger than the diameter of a 50 cent piece. You put enough of those in your dogs bowl that they have to nudge around in the bowl to get to their food. Any time your dog stops to look or is nosing around, they will likely chew and then take longer to eat. What an awesome idea! (Visit our website to see how it worked out for Murphy.)
Well, on to our announcement: we’ll soon be a dealer for JOY dog food. Please drop us a line if you’re in the general Canton, Ohio, area. We’d be pleased to include your needs in our initial order!
Tags: Canton, Diet, dog training, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Joy pet food, Lexi, Murphy, Ohio
PerfectlyPawsible's Blog has gone to the dogs! 
August 17, 2009 at 1:14 pm |
[…] diet. Okay, not a rock diet, but using the rocks in his food to slow him down. (See “Dog Food and GULPing” and “The GULP Follow-Up” if you’ve recently joined our blog […]
September 14, 2009 at 12:19 pm |
[…] could tell by the look on her face that she never walked the dog. She asked why that was important. (See this past post on dogs, food and gulping down food.) “Why can’t I give my dog people food?” I asked her if she thought she’d be […]
September 16, 2009 at 11:02 pm |
I had a German Shepard and she used to gulp her food too, but only because we had another dog, and she ( German Shepard ) was afraid of loosing her food to the other dog. I no longer have her, she lives with my son and his wife, so I don’t know what her eating habits are now.