DogPause food dish – win one!

Like many Sheltie owners, I had preconceived ideas about how Shelties behave.  We Sheltie lovers can make sweeping generalizations about the breed & most often we would be right.  Shelties are smart.  Shelties love to bark.  Shelties love to herd.  Shelties gobble food…um, no.  Shelties have manners, right?

Well, there is always an exception to the rule of anything…and my little Toby is the dog that does it.  Our little “Hoover”, Toby is famous for gulping down his meal (which includes half chewed baby carrots) in seconds flat…with sometimes not so pleasant results.  Burping & vomiting up his meal almost as fast as he ate it.  Yuck!

I know it’s not healthy for him to inhale the food, but other than putting rocks in his bowl (like you do with horses who bolt their grain) I was at a loss what to do about it.

I was recently contacted by a company that makes a feeding bowl called DogPause.  They asked me if I would be interested in reviewing the product.  Apparently, it is the first dog bowl with integrated portion control.  Four sections divide food into manageable portions which forces the dog to pause in between each section.

The company says this bowl is sized for dogs between 15 and 100 pounds and most dog breeds ranging from Beagles to Rottweilers. Dogs just can’t get their entire face into the bowl, and as a result, eat more slowly.

But my little Toby is an undersized Sheltie with a long slender nose.  Would it work for him too?  Yep.  It did double the time it takes him to eat…from an average of 30 seconds to about 1 minute.  Is that enough time to stop the vomiting & burping?  Well, sorta.  He still doesn’t chew his kibble, but he has taken the time to chew his carrots.  I think he can get his snout deeper into the bowl than say a Golden can, but he does have to use his tongue to get the kibble at the bottom.

The DogPause dog bowl works to slow down the pace of eating and aid with portion control in the following ways:

• Divides the bowl into 4 feeding zones.
• Each feeding zone is 1/2 cup in capacity and designed to “block” the dog from putting his full snout into the bowl; this slows down eating pace as your dog needs to use his tongue for each bite.
• After your dog finishes each zone, he must re-position himself for the next zone.
• The bowl is designed to slide a little on the floor, further slowing down the dog as he needs to re-position for each bite.  For Toby, letting the bowl slide around on the floor was a good thing; it really helped extend his time eating.

The DogPause dogbowl is made of the high quality plastic. It is non-toxic, food grade, and dishwasher safe. It’s as safe as Tupperware® or Gladware®   My only wish was that it came in a stainless steel variation.

The DogPause bowl retails for $17.95,  or two for $29.95 plus free shipping.

The folks at DogPause have generously donated a bowl for Sheltie Nation to raffle off to one lucky “gobbler” Sheltie!  Just email SheltieNationRaffle@gmail.com and put DogPause in the subject line to enter!  Trevor, Toby & Tyler will be choosing a winner on 6/1, so enter today!  (Please only one entry per household.)

CONGRATS TO KAREN MCGUIRE FOR WINNING THE DOGPAUSE BOWL!