Hi all, Not sure if this should be here or un training section. When we are out and Vanilla (16 weeks) meets new people she gets very excited, partly due to the reaction of the people. We are training her to have all paes on the floor with the clicker, she the gets a treat. Her kibble as currently she has had a lot of issues with her tummy (currently being investigated). Problem we have she does not chew them properly and we can at times go through about 10 in less than a couple of minutes. She then starts to cough/choke as if she has something stuck in her throat. She will either throw up and (this has happened a couple of times) or it will clear with some water. Anyone have ever come across this with their own or any idea how to stop this behaviour? Given that we want to socialise her Thanks Sven
It's pretty normal not to really chew kibble. My dog Obi does but my dog before that wouldn't have dreamed of chewing. I doubt that she's actually choking so don't worry about that - it's probably that the kibble are dry and after succession of them they just feel a bit scratchy or aren't slipping down easily. Is there anything soft or moist that she's allowed with her current diet? Little cubes of raw or cooked steak or something like that? That kind of thing might go down more easily than the kibble. Just a training tip - 10 kibbles every couple of minutes is not a lot for training something like staying calm when visitors arrive. She might be totally fine with that rate of payment because you've worked up to it, but if you need to you can greatly increase the rate (eg double or triple).
I put a bit water with Millie's kibble and let them swollen up, about 15mins. It prevents her to just chunk it down. The other thing I'm currently training too due to Millie trying to jump on people getting all excited, not on us in the family though which I'm glad for.
And I use small Apple pieces as treats when we are out and about just due to that she chunk down kibble.
Thanks for the advise. As she is currently on Antibiotics and Hills I/D food (dry) we bought a couple of tins of the same. We cut them up and freeze, that is helping as going down quickly. Have also found some soft treats by 'Ivory Coat' that she enjoys. They are assisting too. Only a few more weeks and then we can transition to a new food. Thanks
Yes, I think that's why many of our trainers liked hot dogs for training treats. They are slimy and slippery and go down easily. They are not healthy food but you aren't using them as food when training. And, here you can get pretty healthy, preservative free ones.
Yes we have tried to avoid those for now as wanted to use healthy treats. But this could end up being our way forward to use something like tiny pieces of hotdog/fritz. It is only for training at the end of the day when we are out. At home or traing with minimal disruptions we can use the healthy ones. ☺
If I'm training in high distraction environments, I often use roast chicken (or did, before going chicken-free). I'll buy a whole chicken, roast it and then pull the meat (skin, cartilage) from the bones and freeze into portions. I can take one out of the freezer each day, let it defrost then cut it into pieces. I fixed a shaky recall with this. The good news is, it's cheap, easy and pretty healthy, too!
