Scatter feeding Questions

Hi,

My name is Denis. We have a Queensland Blue Heeler named Shasta. She is almost 10 months old.

We want to feed Shasta only dry food scattered on the floor. We want to know if it is too early in her development? She currently eats dry food mixed with chicken, and Grass Fed Tallow. She looks much bigger in the photo. She is about 33 pounds.

Thank you.

Why do you want to feed her food scattered on the floor?I’ve not heard of this before

Enrich Your Dog’s Life- Scatter Feeding | Tom And Toto Pet Care Ltd.

She looks well happy in the photo.... Scatter feeding seems pretty weird if I was honest when you can just put it in a bowl... Good luck with that one, hope she finds it rewarding.....

OK for a single dog but you might need two lawns for two - especially if they didn't gobble at the same rate. Having said that I do scatter feed a small handful of cat or toy puppy kibble as an after-grooming reward for my two. I throw the two quantities to opposite ends of the garden, but Merry always finishes first and has to 'help' Eddie to tidy up his area!
Contamination by slugs and snails could be a potential source of lungworm infection. We use the 7 day dose of Panacur 10%, but other products should always provide cover for lungworm.

Thanks for the good advice, and letting me join the group.

Thanks, she is healthy. We are hoping to have one more way to keep her busy. We do a lot already.

We will not feed her outside. Our yard is about a half acre near a seasonal creek. Raccoons, Possums, Squirrels, Skunks, Rats, Mice and ants.

I think that I will have to monitor her weight closely. If she stops growing, I will stop.

Hi Denis , Shasta is a good looking girl .

do you mean “ only “ as in , the only thing she will eat is dry food ?

or “only” as in , only on the floor ?

I fed my dogs on the concrete floor before so I don’t see any problem with that .

if you mean for an exercise in keeping her busy , or making things interesting ,
I’d say sure go for it for a try if you want and see if she likes it .

my pups I normally want them to eat some things nourishing they like so they will grow to their potential , as they can get fussy and I don’t like them looking narrow , so I come at the subject from another direction .

I don’t see too many cattle dog pups get overly fat , maybe later on as she gets older Or if she gets /is desexed .
I wouldn’t worry too much yet unless she is a fatty boom sticks

Her size is normal , and she can grow until 2 1/2 years old or so .

Thanks Queensland blue,

I am happy with how her condition is. Definitely fit.

The plan is for 100% free feeding. No bowls. I am reluctant. We will have to find a puppy food that she will eat no matter the situation. I agree that she will have to get the right nutrients.

I will pass on your points to my wife.

If you are going to get another dog, maybe thing about the puzzle mats or feeders. That way you are still giving a similar type of enrichment, but keeping control of how much you are feeding and stopping any possible future fights

My Heeler Kyrie and the wife’s Australian Shepherd Willow both get fed dry food out of the same bowl. It goes down about 8:30 AM, and gets picked up around 5:30 PM.

The old blind Chihuahua Peanut gets fed his soft food separately, but he does occasionally eat a bit out of their bowl.

They were fed Science Diet Large Breed Puppy food until they were a year old. We then changed them to Science Diet Adult Large Breed Light. They also get a large Milk Bone each every evening for a treat.

Willow will be three years old next month, and Kyrie will be four in July. I think Peanut is 14 years old now.

Thanks Chris and Rick.

We tried a combination of scatter, enrichment, puzzle, snuffle and scent work feeding. I felt that she was not eating enough.

We switched back to twice a day kibble feeding in a bowl. I add chicken and the gelatin from cooking it. She eats it all. We also give some grass fed beef tallow a couple times a day from our hands.

We use freeze dried beef liver cut into small pieces to treat her for obedience or other command learning work, and to tempt her to solve her puzzle feeders and scent work. She never gets tired of it. We also used freeze dried lung cut into small pieces, but stopped due to the odor.

Glad to hear things are going well. I personally would consider "scatter feeding" to be those times when I knock over the filled dog bowl.

I never used treats to train Kyrie. With her intelligence and wanting to work (and please me); it wasn’t necessary.

The wife never had to do much training with Willow. She picked things up from watching Kyrie interact with me, and a bit of me working with her directly.

I've never used treats. I just found that my dogs either weren't treat motivated or they were so treat motivated that they couldn't focus on the training...

I've always used every tool in the box for rewards - treats (great motivator), praise, play, cuddles. Keeps it interesting for both dogs and their owners.

The key is to know when to reward and how much to ask for at each stage for the reward to be given

Tornado-dog could probably be treat trained with knowledge. But Cat-dog is oblivious to treats - other than her morning under-the-bed biscuit and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

Funny though, she has to sniff Tornado-dog's chews before he can have them. I think she's checking them for poison.

I couldn't have achieved anything with Eddie - or Tweed the Lurcher/Terrier who preceded him - without using food. I found it useful but not essential for other breeds that we have owned, but Beagles really are dustbins on legs. My trainer always says, 'Be generous. Who wants to wants to work for no wages'. Although the wages don't always have to be food related, they do need to mark desired behaviour clearly, and keep you as the greatest source of fun in your dog's life.

Made a huge difference with my pup , became a natural genius with their addition , extra motivation for the brain to figure out exactly what it was that human was trying to say .

Hi Denis!

First, love your pup's name. Just grew my first Shasta daisies this year.

Super curious about the scatter feeding. I noticed my heeler Kaia prefers eating it scattered off floor to bowl since she is a young pup. Is that common, or is there another reason to do scatter feeding?

I see no issues if safe environment (no chemicals/pesticides). My girl is only 7 months and we have been doing scatter feeding on and off for about 6 weeks, so I don't think Shasta is too young. What food do you use? I am currently on Merrick with freeze dried raw but thinking of switching.

Hi Arianna, I think that scatter feeding is kind of an enrichment thing.

Some dogs might like it. I did not like the idea of 100% scatter feeding. Too much work doing it a little at a time all day long. A friend has fed their Cattle Dog that way from a puppy. She is a nice healthy dog. Currently we feed her Nature's Domain Salmon. We augment it with Tuna sometimes, Chicken others and Beef.

Sometimes she simply does not want to eat. We have learned to simply accept that she is cool. I understand that some Heelers like to eat once a day.