Get Rid of the Food Bowl and Resolve your Dogs Behavior Problems

In this video Jamie talks about why feeding your dog from a food bowl is a bad idea and how doing so can be harmful to both your training and your dogs mental health.

[thedoggiedojo]

Love this!! Always something that I would recommend. So many things you can teach your dog with their food.

[claire_blue_skiesgalaxy]

My dog is not motivated by food at all, so I'm going to give this a try. Thank you for the tip!

[silverlining]

My girl was abused. She also has food insecurities. She’s stopped wolfing her food down but gets anxious if there’s not always access to food. Wise advice. Unfortunately. This is not practical to implement for me. Or her. She has to sit & wait until I give her her release command to eat. She’s still very food motivated. I use heathy raw foods (carrots & blueberries are a couple favorites) or peanut butter for training. She *always* has to sit, wait, & whatever command she needs to work on to get the special treats. So far it’s working. :)

[jessicamartorano]

My pup is 14 weeks old (apbt) his meals were fed in his crate since he was 8weeks to make a positive association. I also got him a snuffle mat which I really liked using (except that I had to use dry kibble. I like to soak the dry kibble in boiling hot water for 5mins). In the last week & a half or so I've been feeding his meals thru training sessions & it makes a huge difference! Wish I did that from the beginning! Great video & glad I found this channel!

[s]

Great video and great tips! Even though my dog has been fed from his food bowl all his life, he is strongly food motivated. Only the two last years I have fed him almost half of his food amount from his bowl, two times a day, and used the rest of the food to train him to come to me when we are out and also to pay me attention when we are walking around for his daily walks. Earlier he totally forgot that I was hanging in the other end of his leash. Now, at least, he pays me attention, and he stops every few metres to look at me, sits down when he wants a food pellet or two. Also he does this when he sees other dogs and humans or noisy children. And I trained him to lie down and be calm for a while without complaining when we are out. I was only able to make him do this with food rewards. My only concern is that if I give him more of his daily food amount when we are out walking, he will get a bloated belly. I am so afraid of that. Also, I have been thinking of giving him some of his food in his chew toy, when I go to work, but I am afraid he will get the food pellets in his throat and choke himself when I am not there to watch over him, and help. I never let him eat when he is alone. But maybe it would be nicer for him to be left alone if he got some food. I love my dog! Great channel! Thank you so much for sharing your tips here! : ) ^..^

[franklawson]

I was having problems with my puppy dumping his bowl over in his kennel and not eating his kibble. I took your advice and started feeding him from out of a rubber toy that he has to turn over again and again to get the food to fall out. It has worked like a charm. Now he eats all of his kibble every meal. Thanks for the tip!

[monabalgobin]

Honestly im here because i started feeding my pup w my hands since she was a baby. She’s 2 years old now and shes afraid to use a bowl. Its soooo stressful to get her to eat without me setting aside 20 mins to feed her. I’m here on youtube bc i want to train her how to eat independently. Dont make the mistake i made. Handfeeding can develop bad habits. My dog will starve herself for days if i dont hand feed her. And yes, she loves her food.

[robertcrawford]

Great video Jamie.

Agree 100%.

I hand feed my puppies and stuff their Kongs and they chew for their food until they drop lol

[wlrobinson]

Adopting a puppy soon. What about timing of bedtime for puppy and final meal of the day? Would I time that final chew toy meal a few hours before bedtime so puppy hopefully gets through the night without needing to potty or have an accident?

And what about those puzzle slow feeders? Does that still count as a “bowl”?

[dablock]

"Stupid bowl filled with food" Great! I like your style.

[oshierabbit]

I love this and will be following it in the future. I think it’s also important to mention dogs might seem less motivated if it’s the brand or flavor of the food. Although I’m sure they’ll eat over starving through this method

[HannahBishop-st]

Hi James, do you reccommend the puzzle bowls as an alternative to the kong style toys and puzzle toys if we are feeding raw food?

[GayzeStarr]

What do you suggest for tiny dogs who only get a tiny amount of kibble a day? I'm talking about dogs like the little 4-pound Chihuahua who only gets a third of a cup per day (and probably needs the training more than most). That's barely a handful and would be used up very quickly.

[selmasu]

I have a maltipoo, she is driving me nuts. Won't eat at all. Going to try your tip. Pray for me.

[kathrynhughes]

What about a five year old rescue dog who is underweight? He seems to really struggle with gaining weight and does not have any issue being food motivated when we're training. We had helped him put three pounds on with protein toppers on his food, he still has another fivish to go. The vet asked us to take away the toppers, just give him kibble and now he's losing weight again, even when we increase the kibble. Should we wait on this training idea for when he's at a better weight? Thanks.

[edwardwung]

My dog is not near perfect yet. He is not even 6 months old. When my dog actually becomes "perfect" enough, can I still feed him from Kong toys, instead of a food bowl? I am a new dog owner, so I don't know how this works. Many sources say that dogs will need to eliminate soon after they eat. If they spend a lot of time throughout the day chewing on stuffed Kong toys, can their potty time still remain predictable, especially the time they need to go poop? Should I just put a bunch of stuffed Kongs for my dog to eat throughout a course of a few hours, or should I give him one and wait until he finishes it before I give him a second one? This part has always been very unclear to me. By the way, I learned about feeding the dog from Kongs because I read the book, "Before & After Getting Your Puppy". It's a very good book, but obviously it's a bit too late for me. I read it two months after I got my dog when he was 5 months old. I have missed the majority of the development stages. I want to switch to feeding from Kongs, but I can't find the details in that book. Thank you very much.

[SC-qbio]

I only use the food bowl to soak the kibble that I then hand feed and use for training treats.

[PugetSoundFlyer]

On the surface this sounds logical but is clearly conjecture on the part of the creator. If this were such a miracle solution I'm certain it would have swept the globe in the 4 years since publication...Are there studies that support this training strategy?

[laurasimao]

Hi! My dog trainer recommended this channel and I’m so glad she did! I’m getting a new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy in about 5 weeks. He’ll be about 10 weeks old. He won’t be potty trained so I will have to do that. I love the concept of feeding my puppy through chew toys and for training, I agree it does seem unnatural for a dog to eat from a bowl. With that said, I was told that consistency and having a routine with regularly scheduled meals is critical for a super young puppy during the housebreaking / potty training stage. Any thoughts? Thank you so much for the work you do, it’s a life saver! 🥰

[wynonaflud]

I want to get my dogs off table scraps but they will litterally starve themselves when i try giving dog food. Can you help?