Hi! I’ve been racking my brain about what my first post should be. So I thought about what people ask me the most about and came up with dinner. Not about what we feed the boys so much but how we feed the boys. It’s a process and when I dog sit for “normal” dogs who get to eat out of a “normal” bowl and get a classic “scoop” I bask in the moments of simplicity.

We use cupcake tins. All four have their own but recently we upgraded Ben and Riley to toys for dinner but more on that later. Cupcake tins are great. You put a little in each spot and it slows down the intake so they don’t choke. You could buy pacer balls or put down five mini bowls but this does the trick.

We have dinner toys as well. It started with Ben because he is so puppy like that we wanted to exhaust him. We have the Kong Wobble, a ball, a teeter totter, and a spin disc for Ben. These are pretty basic– they role the toy, or hit the toy in such a way that a kernel of food pops out. It’s also hilarious. The teeter totter made by Toys R Us is not my favorite because he doesn’t really seem to “teeter totter” it. Also Ben eats in the bath tub because I don’t want his food flying all over the place into another dogs territory or fall into a place where another dog may find it later and they have an argument. I’ve been considering getting him a play pen to be honest.

Riley has this toy that looks like grass. You spread the food out and he has to use his nose and tongue to work it through to get it out. I knew with Riley being a little OCD and crazy that he would not be a candidate for toys that required a lot of focus, or physical movement with his hands. Because he is a terrier he gets very set on things and I just knew that if it wasn’t easy enough for him to “win” he would become more frustrated and high strung. This puzzle is nice because he can see his progress. 

So what’s with the two regular bowls? The boys also receive fish oil, bananas/other fruit, and local honey every night. So because of the toys we can’t just top their food so they have it a la carte.

Local honey is really good for dogs with allergies. If you think about it, the dog is simply ingesting the local pollen that are causing their itchiness. They begin to build a tolerance for the pollen because of this. A lot of humans actually eat local honey too!

They also get Nature’s Logic fish oil. It’s really good for their skin and helps keep skin healthy. Ben gets two fish oils because he has such bad skin. Having both gives him different levels of Omegas and I have seen a small amount of improvement. Ben is the only one who gets this fish oil because it is a bit more expensive.

On my Products I Use page I link you to the food I use. We feed 3 dogs Orijen fish blend. It’s expensive but with the allergies, it saves us a lot on vet bills! Peter eats California Natural and it is a pretty great food as well!

One thing I’ve learned about dog food is that you should always be skeptical of the bag’s suggested serving amount. They want you to buy food more often and thus they may suggest a higher serving amount. I always use the “less active” amount as a starting point and adjust from there. Feeding amounts can change during different seasons as well so make sure to watch your dog’s body! If you do any mix ins take that into account as well and reduce the dry food!

We also have pill time at dinner. Woody and Benny get an antihistamine(morning and night). Riley gets  Prozac (in the morning he takes Clonidine to help with the crazy), and Peter gets Dasuquin which is a joint medication.

So there we have it. My first blog. Dinnertakes some time but it’s worth the 5 minutes they aren’t following me around at night!