Embry is a four year old Black Lab mix whose life revolves around mealtimes.
In the evening, at about an hour or so before his owner comes home from work, Embry begins to pace. His circuit of the house goes from the front windows to the garage door to the kitchen, where he stands sadly at the cupboard that contains his kibble. He makes this round methodically until he hears the sound of the car in the driveway.
By the time his owner enters the house, Embry is bouncing and spinning in glee. He hardly cares that he hasn’t peed all day, although his owner insists that he go outside to do his business first, so he quickly complies. Rushing back in, he dances in front of the dog food cabinet while his owner dishes up his meal.
While his dinner is being prepared, Embry jumps and twirls, bumps his owner’s legs, nudges his elbow, runs frantically around the kitchen. His owner has to hold him away from the bowl so that he can put it on the floor without knocking it over. Embry’s face is buried in the dish before it touches the ground.
Now is that a polite way to eat a meal?
Not to mention that inhaling food that quickly is dangerous and can cause stomach torsion, or bloat. But that topic is for another blog post.
Let’s back up and create a calmer mealtime for everyone involved.
Getting Embry to sit and stay rather than whirlwind is the scenario we want. The trouble is, Embry’s owner tried that. He would stand there, saying “Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit.” Over and over. Which, of course, was completely ineffectual because there was no way that Embry would obey a spoken command.
So we got right to the heart of the reward that Embry was waiting for – his dinner. Instead of fighting Embry off while he tried to scoop kibble into the bowl, his owner closed the cabinet door and stood there quietly. He said nothing. In a few moments, it occurred to Embry that his meal was NOT appearing. He sat down to ponder this anomaly, and his owner promptly opened the cabinet door and began to scoop. Embry stood up to rush over, and the cabinet door closed. His owner stood still, not saying a word. Embry again sat down, and miraculously, the cabinet again opened. This continued – open/close/open/close – until Embry decided that sitting seemed to make food happen more quickly. So he sat until the meal was in his dish.
Then, his owner didn’t set the bowl on the floor! Embry considered his options, tested the Sit theory, and watched the bowl get lowered to the floor. If he jumped up, the bowl was raised high. If he sat down, the bowl made its way to the floor. Sitting made food happen, so Embry sat until his owner had the meal on the floor and said “okay.”
By taking a few extra moments to do this little exercise in self-control, Embry learned to calm down, wait politely for his meal to be prepared and served, and everyone got what they wanted.
Now THAT’S how to feed a dog!
