Is it ok to do this - dogs?

puddy

Our dog is on a diet due to a back injury, so he tends to eat his very small 2 portions a day in about 20 seconds.

I thought it would be nice to make him work a bit for the food and be a bit more natural for him to hunt it out, so in the morning and evening I throw his portion of dry food in a wide arc around the garden and he goes out sniffing around eating it bit by bit. It takes him a good 10-20 minutes to find it all and he seems to enjoy it.

My OH feels that the dog will get ill and pick up diseases from the garden if I do this. what do you think. He's out there now sniffing it all out, he loves doing it.

We cant give him other forms of enrichment like kongs or chews as he turns into posessive devil dog and changes character.

ankspon

Next time you have your tea give us a call and i'll throw it in the garden for you to fetch/

gettingready

OP - sorry but this is a VERY bad idea for several reasons:

1) you encourage the dog to pick food from where he/she should not - imagine him/her picking some rubbish while on a walk, he/she would not know any better, would he/she?

2) garden = slugs = heartworm

Pls do not do it.

You can get a treat ball and put the food in there so the dog has to work to get it out.

Still, would not even do that with a dog that is on a diet and probably always hungry because of that poor thing...

You could put a small ball in his food dish so he has to slow down eating when working his way around the ball, much better that throwing the food round the garden where he can pick up ilness so easily....

FattyBettyBoo

Also, you'll encourage rats into your garden

ladymarmalade1970

I don't think it's a bad idea! In fact, our dog trainer told us to hide food to keep our dogs entertained. They love it. I never thought of throwing their dinner though (i have 2 dogs). I assume it's the OP's own garden so i don't really see what the issue is. I know slug/snails etc can be dangerous but we give them drugs for lungworm and stuff so as long as he is regularly flea-ed and wormed etc with a wormer that does lungworm i don't see what the problem is.
If your OH is uncomfortable with it maybe you could just do a few bits first them when he has found these give him the rest???

puddy

its a real shame, we have tried treat balls, the food is quite big so its a challenge finding a ball big enough for his food and he is quite big (not fat). he is not on a diet because he's overweight, the vet wants him below his average weight and was annoyed with us last time because he had put on a pound, so we have to be strict now.

he's on monthly medication that prevents against lungworm and i thought it covered heartworm too but will have to check.

im not sure rats would be encouraged as theres no food left for them to find plus our 2 cats would be chasing any little critters as well as him

puddy

ladymarmalade1970 wrote: »

I don't think it's a bad idea! In fact, our dog trainer told us to hide food to keep our dogs entertained. They love it. I never thought of throwing their dinner though (i have 2 dogs). I assume it's the OP's own garden so i don't really see what the issue is. I know slug/snails etc can be dangerous but we give them drugs for lungworm and stuff so as long as he is regularly flea-ed and wormed etc with a wormer that does lungworm i don't see what the problem is.
If your OH is uncomfortable with it maybe you could just do a few bits first them when he has found these give him the rest???

my OH is quite anxious about most things to be honest,, big row at the weekend because i was wood preserving a new shed and it would cause us all to pass out and neighbours wouldnt be able to sleep..... cue slight smell of turps

he is also completelly obsessive about use by and sell by dates and i think this is where he's coming from, he thinks the food has germs in it.

the food he has is measured out in a special ladle i bought, its literally one heaped ladle full of dried food from the vet as this is the amount he can have so its not very much, so one throw is enough

ladymarmalade1970

I honestly don't see what the problem is.
I assume he will associate his food with his garden and knows the leave command so when you are out if he see's food you just say leave.
If he is enjoying it and fine and well i wouldn't worry.
You can ask the vet about it when you ask him if whatever he has treats heatworm.

ladymarmalade1970

puddy wrote: »

my OH is quite anxious about most things to be honest,, big row at the weekend because i was wood preserving a new shed and it would cause us all to pass out and neighbours wouldnt be able to sleep..... cue slight smell of turps

he is also completelly obsessive about use by and sell by dates and i think this is where he's coming from, he thinks the food has germs in it.

the food he has is measured out in a special ladle i bought, its literally one heaped ladle full of dried food from the vet as this is the amount he can have so its not very much, so one throw is enough

My OH used to be like this but he has calmed down now. Possibly because the first place i look when i go shopping is the reduced counter lol.
How does your OH cope with the dirt from your dog? I struggle with dust and have to wipe my walls down constantly (well about 30 mins of washing walls every week).

puddy

to be honest we've never seen any food when out on walks and usually is on a long lead as we cant let him run too much due to his back. he knows the 'drop' command but can turn very posessive around food that he cant eat all in one go, such as bones, chews etc, so he's not allowed these. i also give him apples as a treat, if i give him a whole one, he gets posessive so this has to be cut in half

ladymarmalade1970

I think alot of dogs can get funny over bones. My Staffy X never has but my rottie, when we first rescued him at 9 months, did growl at me a couple of times when i went near him with it. I took it off him immediately and for all the people that say you shouldn't do this it's worked perfectly for us as i can now give him bones and take anything out of his mouth.
I am not sure how you deal with food issues, that could make a difference. We have never really had any issues other than my rotties recall which isn't perfect. Sorry.
How old is he and what type? Was he puppy or rescue?