By Frances Goodman

Puppy’s Food Bowl Exercises

One of the most important social lessons a puppy can learn is to have good manners about food and the food bowl. It’s up to pet parents to teach this.

Here are some simple training exercises that can help prevent food bowl aggression or “food guarding,” and can result in a happier more relaxed adult dog.

(However, do not put yourself at risk if food-bowl-aggression has already developed. These exercises should begin early enough to prevent food bowl aggression from ever beginning.)

?  STAY WITH THE PUPPY while he is eating, stroke him gently, and talk lovingly to him. Occasionally dip your hand into the bowl and offer food from your fingers, so the puppy becomes accustomed to having hands around the bowl while he/she is eating. (This exercise should be done by adults in the family. However, with good judgment and close supervision by an adult, children may be allowed to do it, if they do it properly.)

?  SOMETIMES REMOVE the dish briefly while puppy is eating, add some crumbled-up treats(that smell different than the food), and then place the bowl back under his nose so he can continue eating. As you remove the dish, use the word, “GIVE,” followed by praise. Then say, “OKAY!” as you place it back under puppy’s nose, and continue petting.

?  WHEN PUPPY is finished eating, remove the empty food bowl from the floor, so that a possessive attitude about the food bowl as puppy’s “property” does not develop.

These simple procedures teach puppy we are there to give good food, not to take it away. They can help puppy develop a relaxed attitude toward the food bowl and a trusting relationship with you.

How Much to Feed?

Not sure how much to feed at each meal?

Different brands have different nutrition levels! Check the label on the food bag to see how much your puppy should get per day.

If the feeding schedule is three times daily, give one/third of the recommended daily amount at each feeding. By the end of the day the total recommended quantity should have been fed.

Puppies should be fed three times a day up to about 6 months of age. After that, twice a day is recommended.

Scheduling

Unless your vet advises leaving food down all the time for health reasons, the bowl should stay down no more than 15 minutes at each scheduled feeding. Then take it up until the next mealtime rolls around.

This way we are scheduling the “input,” which can help greatly by scheduling the “output” for potty training purposes!

(If food is left down all day, there’s no way to know when its time for puppy to “go.”)

Best wishes!