Dog Owners: Making a fun activity feeder for your dog :)
My dog eats his food way too fast, and also he spends a lot of time indoors at the moment because of the heat.
My boyfriend made a pig feeder for some of the ranch hogs on his uncle's ranch and it got me thinking. A pig feeder is a long PVC pipe with holes punched through it that you put corn in (not for dogs! pigs love corn though) and they push the pipe around and root for the corn.
Here's some pictures of a pig feeder:
http://www.texasboars.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21
So I figured that with all of the plastic bottles around (no recycling in this town :( )
I could use one or two to make a pig feeder for my dog (who's pretty much a pig anyway because he freaking LOVES his food, though he's not piggy like being fat.)
I took an exacto knife and a large gatorade bottle with a screw cap (my first one was a tennis ball can which worked for a surprising long while until my dog learned how to pop the can off.) I cut 3-4 small holes in different spots barely larger as the size of his dog food pellets, and then I filled it 2/3 of the way with dog food.
I also tried this with a large smart water plastic bottle and that worked too :)
My dog still lifts it up and moves it around, but he also sometimes gets that if he just rolls it with his nose, food will pop out.
But the thing is, this will keep him occupied for an hour or more!
Granted, he's food protective anyway, which is lame, and this makes him more food protective though my boyfriend and I work more with him and the "drop" command (and boy isn't that a work in progress!) But at least this way he doesn't inhale his food, and HAS to eat slower, and it engages him for a long period of time problem-solving at how to get those delicious nuggets of doggy-goodness to pop through the holes ::)
Re: Dog Owners: Making a fun activity feeder for your dog :)
Thank you! Those are very clever ideas!
Your "bottles recycled into dog-feeding toys" seem like a very practical idea.
Thanks for the specific directions on how you made them for your dog and how he plays with them.
(As we all know, just like people, doggies all have different personality types and their own individual quirks. My dog is a slow eater; she'll eventually finish her food, but she likes to take her time. She likes to take a little break every few bites--just to see if there are any new squirrels in the front yard, or if there's anything else worthwhile watching outside!)
Sorry for the threadjack; just get me talking about my dog and I'm hopeless! I could go on all day! ;D
Thanks again for the great ideas. :)
Re: Dog Owners: Making a fun activity feeder for your dog :)
^nope! totally cool. Some dogs are totally food driven and others are not so maybe some dogs would just get bored and decide the new game is to bug you until you start feeding them conventionally.
I just like it better than using a Kong, which I've done in the past and doesn't seem to occupy him as long-- plus I have to keep him sequestered in the kitchen or bathroom with that so as not to get peanut butter/frozen mashed up treats from getting on the carpet. With dog food, I don't worry about that.