Chewing kibble

 This JUST started? LOL Ena Bean has been a hoover from the get go, and all of my dogs are. Do you feed them together? Is she able to steal? I'd stop that, right now. No competition, dogs are fed seperately. That will help, a little bit, and prevent any resource guarding.

I float their food in warm water. It keeps them from choking on the kibbles. Either that, or I feed them from my hand for doing whatever training task I've set out. Otherwise, my three will ALL inhale so fast they choke on it.

OOOOh, oh! Idea! What about one of those 6-holed muffin tins? You could break her meal up into six little portions.

 Also, LOL, I haven't found teeth have much to do with it. Emma has a mouth full of teeth, Jewel is missing a few, and Ena has never had premolars (but otherwise has the most incredible mouth I've ever seen on a THL), and they all chew and eat with gusto. I knew a 16 year old THL that had one tooth in his mouth, and he could gum anything into oblivion It doesn't seem to bother them, one little bit.

BIG dogbowl -- LOTS of obstacles -- balls, toys, big rocks, to put IN the bowl so the dog has to move all the obstacles in order to get the kibble (nothing light).

Moonlight

What health repercussions can I expect from her becoming a Hoover?

I've never had a dog who wasn't a Hoover, and none of them ever had any health problems due to gobbling food.  On the contrary, over the years I've always worried when my dogs ate slowly, as that was a clear sign that they weren't feeling well.

Now, for your dog I'd be a little concerned because this is a new behavior, not normal for her.  So rather than worrying about complications from the Hoovering, I'd be wondering if there are any underlying medical conditions that might be causing her to be hungrier than normal.

Gibby is a Hoover also...and I do worry since he is a Great Dane and I'm concerned about bloat...a problem that us Dane owners have to worry about.  

I have added water to his kibble to make it float a bit ( NOT to soak and get soft ) but it doesn't really work.  I have put a small ball in his dish also....   I have also thought that bigger kibble might help because the Eagle Pack he eats isn't very big...thinking that larger pieces might help make him think he has to chew more.

The other thing is there are bowls in the pet stores that are made purposely to make them slow down...they are bowls that have seperations in them or bumps sticking up so that the dog has to slow down a bit to make the dog go to where the food is not just put their heads in the middle and start gobbling.  I would really like to try one of these bowls but I have the raised dish stand and they won't fit in it.

Oooh, thanks everyone for the input.

Chloe has always eaten quickly, but she would chew a bit before.  I'll have the vet take a look at her.  I'll also try each suggestion and see which one works best for her.  I'll try obstacle-courses in her food dish first and then the floating kibbles tomorrow.  The muffin tin would be a good enrichment game with treats in the cups and light toys on top, so I'll mix that one in for all of them. 

At mealtimes, I usually just put the dogs each in a different corner of a room.  I think I'll put Chloe in a more 'secure' spot and see if that makes her comfortable with slowing down.

Kya is such a dainty, careful eater, so Chloe's food-bolting came as a bit of a suprise.

You know I meant to add something....for those of you that think your dog is wolfing down his food because you have other dogs....perhaps. BUT Gibby and Bubby both did it and they are/were the only dog in my house.

 dogs don't need to chew kibble - just thought I'd mention that - in fact they don't have the chewing mechanism that we do.

 That said Bugsy can hoover and sometimes he crunches - no other dogs present.  As a puppy he ate in a millisecond, I tried obstacles, baking pans, ice cubes nothing slowed him down

He is better now but still has his moments (a few weeks ago he ate an entire FROZEN lamb shank in a couple of minutes.

I understand it is a new behavior but it may settle down when she gets more used to the pup being around

Thank you both.  Very good points!

kpwlee

dogs don't need to chew kibble - just thought I'd mention that - in fact they don't have the chewing mechanism that we do.

You know what funny about that?????????  The fact that so many people,,,including vets, say kibble helps their teeth. 

 I know they just use their teeth to break things down small enough to get down their throat, but I do think that if they do eat too fast..... and gulp too much air they could be in for a problem.  How many times to they barf it right up after eating it too fast.

 Some dogs bolt regardless, but Amber's pack just grew She now has three dogs, instead of two, and that is a whole different dynamic. Emma bolts her food, no matter what, but when there's competition, she doesn't even BREATHE while she's eating LOL.

 Kirby has always amused me because he not only chews but will remove his kibble one piece at a time and crunch it up before moving on to the next piece.  With soft food however you better not blink or it will be gone. =p

 Another thing you can try for kibble is to place it in a toy like a buster cube that will only drop out a piece or two at a time and make the dog work for the food.

 I wouldn't be overy concerned about bolting food down, unless bloat was a big risk, like in a Dane.  But I still float my dogs kibble when they get it.  And not just enough so the kibble moves around a little, like when you have cereal with milk.  I add enough water so that the bowl is almost full and neither dog drinks much for the remainder of the day.  Its probably 6 cups of water for a cup and a half of food.  It takes them approximately 3 minutes to eat, still not a ton of time, but I feel better about it.  Plus after all that water, they aren't looking for more food in the next dog's bowl.  In my case, it just annoys me when I put down food and its gone in 8 seconds or less and I've got two dogs begging for more food cause theres no way their minds have caught up to their food in their bellies.