# Feeding puppy exclusively via Kongs



## HankChinaski (Oct 11, 2014)

Hi

I will be the proud owner of an 8 week old Vizsla dog on Sunday. I love this site and have been lurking for a while doing a lot of research. 

Via a recommendation here I read Ian Dunbar's book about what to do before you get a puppy and after. In the book he suggests exclusively feeding your puppy via Kongs for the first few weeks. I had never heard of this before and I had planned to follow my breeder's feeding times which are 4 times per day and feed from a normal dog bowl. However, I really like Ian Dunbar's suggestion as it intuitively makes sense to me. 

He reasons that you are basically trying to make your puppy a chewtoyaholic as this not only means your puppy learns only to chew acceptable toys, but the act of getting the food out the Kongs provides a lot of entertainment.

Has anyone tried his method or heard feedback from someone who has?

Thanks


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

We did the same thing (also read Dunbar's book). Our guy is very much a chewaholic as a result! He's always been a super big chewer, but he learned really quickly what was his to chew and would find himself a toy. So that alone was worth it! We also used a kibble ball a lot when he was a pup, so he'd keep himself busy and out of trouble. I think the most important thing is just to measure out the food for the day, because it can be hard to keep track of how much you're feeding when you're stuffing it in toys. We still feed about half our V's food to him this way, and about half is hand fed (he also had a tendency to guard - not food - but we wanted to prevent that). It's also another good way to settle them down and teach them to sit quietly. Do make sure the pup is still getting food at regular intervals throughout the day, but stuffed toys still make that easy as they can be crated with them and gives them something to do in there.

The only problem we found with the method is when we added a second dog. For the most part, our V has adjusted to sharing his stuffed toys extremely well. But it did throw a wrench in things for a while when we couldn't trust him around the pup with stuffed toys. They had to be given only in the crate for a while and that left him without some of his favorite toys to chew (he won't chew them empty anymore, haha).


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

I did this for the first month or so along with hand feeding. I only think I stopped because I was too cheap to buy a bigger one to fit larger meals down the road. They sure are pricy! She still loves her kongs and will play with them like balls. We've also had no resource guarding issues thanks to the hand feeding, lots of work with "give", and her laid back temperament.


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## HankChinaski (Oct 11, 2014)

Thanks Dextersmom and einspanner for your comments.

I think I am going to do exactly as you both did and feed with Kongs but hand feed some, too.


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## Spy Car (Sep 3, 2014)

Love the literary screen name Hank 8)

Bill


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## HankChinaski (Oct 11, 2014)

You a fan, too, Bill?

Buk could write a bit. I'm not a big poetry fan but like some of his. Prefer his fiction though.


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## Spy Car (Sep 3, 2014)

HankChinaski said:


> You a fan, too, Bill?
> 
> 
> 
> Buk could write a bit. I'm not a big poetry fan but like some of his. Prefer his fiction though.


Oh yea. Used to pick up his books as they were published at Cherokee Books in Hollywood. The owner stocked all the Black Sparrow Press selections (remember when there used to be real book stores?) by Bukowski and John Fante, et al. 

Bill


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Hello Hank and welcome.

I read I.D. and learned a lot from the book, however, had we fed only from the Kong, my pup would have starved. He would chew it minimally and never finish the food inside, even though it was full of really great high quality treats. He did however recognize it as his and was excited to receive it. We were very consistent with appropriate chewing and it payed off. He had a large array of chew toys so when he was bored with one we could introduce another. It is very important that YOU play with them and their toys, or be with them to keep them interested...They bore easily and if left to their own natural curiosity will not choose wise play things... and that is a fact.
Our Pup has never damaged or chewed what is not for him (except things he finds on the floor, or in the yard...wood, sticks, etc) It is very important to be vigilant and watch out for this, and puppy proof your home and yard. Computer wires, electric cords, phone cords etc are their primary targets.
One of our pups very favorite chews, was cardboard boxes. if you don't mind picking up the debris... He would chase, toss, crawl into, lay on and just play with small to med boxes for a great deal of time, and it was great to tire him out. I learned of this from CrazyCash on this forum. Be sure to get your video ready...it is very entertaining to watch.


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## sillybluecreature (Oct 6, 2013)

We read Dunbar as well and liked the concept but when we got Whiskey home, she wasn't really into her breeder's kibble. She didn't really care for kibble as a treat and we had to hold her bowl and encourage her to eat at first. Soon after we would boil the kibble with water for easier digestion (and better smell). Over time I've ended up with a home-cooked food for her so it's not practical to feed by hand (same as raw). She was more play motivated for training and Kong makes a wobbler toy she loves now (only for out of the crate and stick a tennis ball inside).

We've tried putting real food in Kongs and still to this day, she wouldn't care to eat it unless I was holding it for her (we've tried peanut butter, bananas, etc). She's never been much of a chewer though and we had lots of antlers, stuffed toys, bully sticks that she would like chewing more. At the moment she will work for high quality snacks but then again we've lucked out with an easy-going Vizsla.


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## fullmanfamily (Oct 17, 2014)

Just weighing in on this--we just got our puppy last Saturday. She was eight weeks old, just about to hit nine weeks.

She is a spotty eater right now. We feed her Eukanumba Puppy Choi 2/3 cup, three times a day. Our vet and breeder said to not handfed as it establishes bad habits early on. The best advice we got was to put the food down at the same time each day, leave it for 10-15 minutes and take it away after that. This teaches the puppy to eat when it's meal time. Plus, if they eat less at one meal then they may finish all their food at the next. All that being said, the vet did say if she goes 1-2 meals with spotty eating to get down and handfed her to make sure she does get enough food.


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